Pay Back
by K-K-Girl
Summary: Jareth lets Sarah go over her original thirteen hours, but after she finds Toby she has to "pay back" the hours that she "stole". J/S!
1. Prologue 1

A/N: I was writing the Characters for chapter three in my first Laby fic when I was inspired for this. ^_^ I can't wait to get started! :D  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, Jareth, Sarah, Sir Didymus, LABAYRINTH IN GENERAL!!!! I DO, however, own Squiglette, Navaro, Nanamek and Asqueek. You may NOT use them or their names unless I say - and I usually say 'yes', as long as I can beta-read. I don't care if its for Labyrinth or not, HANDS OFF.  
  
Genre: action/adventure/humor/drama/romance/angst?  
  
Pairings: J/S  
  
Rating: PG13, may go higher depending on my mood  
  
Summery: this is the story from one of Jareth's Goblins' POV, his name is Squiglette. This will be J/S - b/c when Squiglette sees Jareth and Sarah, he and his best friends decide to play match-makers. Ha, I can't wait to get started on this! But I may have a slight plot change - after all, I didn't plan this idea out or anything.  
  
Chapter started: 3/6/03 Chapter ended: 3/9/03  
  
~*~*~  
  
Third Person POV, Squiglette  
  
~*~*~  
  
Squiglette was a royal goblin of the royal court of his royal pain-in-the- you-know-what with royal looking eyes and royal fur and royal blood due to royal parents. Ha! You wish. He was actually a human-turned-goblin but Jareth raised him, so THERE but none of the other Goblins or Elves or Fairies or Dwarves realized this because they weren't as 'intelligent' as Squiglette was. Squiglette was intelligent too, I suppose, but I'm not supposed to be telling you that and I'm not supposed to be saying "I'm" because this isn't a narrative fic.  
  
Anyway, Squiglette and his best friends, a pretty little Goblin girl named Asqueek, an Elfling boy named Navaro, and a Fairy-Pixy named Nanamek, were all playing around near the Labyrinth when an idea actually hit Squiglette in the head. Really hard. So hard, in fact, that he rubbed his head for a moment, trying to remember the idea. Then, "Hey, you guys, I have a really good idea!" he said, stopping from poking a bee hive with the stick he was holding and looking at his friends.  
  
"Gods help us," Navaro muttered. Nanamek agreed silently with a nod.  
  
"What's your really good idea?" squeaked Asqueek, for she liked Squiglette's ideas.  
  
"You guys know how King Jareth is always terrorizing those Aboveground girls and whatever, right? Well, what if he were to actually get terrorized by one of THEM?" Squiglette was very proud of himself as he said this.  
  
"Oh wow, what a really good idea!" squeaked Asqueek, clapping her hands. Navaro and Nanamek looked at each other before answering.  
  
"Actually, I kind of like that idea. King Jareth IS sort of extra mean to all of those poor Human girls." Said Navaro, "But what would be a good lesson to teach? I mean, we can't exactly walk up to the next girl and say, 'hey, Aboveground girl, Human! Yeah, you! Want to come and teach the Goblin King a lesson?' I mean, that's illogical." Navaro put a finger to his chin in thought.  
  
"We could," Nanamek started, but then stopped. "Oh, no, never mind. If that succeeded then it might affect the entire Labyrinth, including us. Never mind." She shook her shoulder-length snowy mane and sighed. But, oops, Squiglette and Asqueek had heard, and they still knew what one plus one is (eleven counts as two in some cases, right?)  
  
"What What??" asked Squiglette wildly.  
  
"What is it? please tells us, Nanamek, please! We'll decide as a group if it's a good idea or not!" Asqueek begged. Navaro raised a curious eyebrow at Nanamek, and she sighed.  
  
"Well, okay. say if Jareth were to, you know, like one of those Aboveground girls, and she didn't like him back. I remember this guy my mother was dating did that, and it totally had her sad." She leaned against a near tree and glanced up at the shining sun, who smiled warmly down upon her and her companions.  
  
"Well, actually, that's a really good idea!" Asqueek said. "I like it," agreed Squiglette. "Let's do it!"  
  
"WAIT!" Navaro shouted, and everybody looked at him. "We have to do the Pros and Cons first," the Elf child explained calmly.  
  
"Pro," Squiglette said after a moment. "We teach King Jareth a lesson!"  
  
"Con," Nanamek shot back. "King Jareth will be heartbroken. Think of how that would affect ALL OF us!"  
  
"Pro," Asqueek argued, "This could possibly end what little conflict we have with the other countries of the Underground. They don't like the kidnapping stuff!"  
  
"Con; say King Jareth starts drinking, or gets grief-stricken, or dies, then what'll we do?" everybody stared at Squiglette, who had just said that. "That didn't help, Squiglette." Asqueek informed him. Squiglette looked down at his feet in shame.  
  
"Okay, okay, then why don't we." Navaro stopped short of his sentence, a grin slowly spreading on his face. "Why don't we," he started haltingly (and slyly) again, "Get an Aboveground girl and King Jareth to, um, you know, like each other, at the same time?" a long silence followed this, then all four grinned at each other.  
  
"So, King Jareth's next victim is our experimentee?" Nanamek asked.  
  
"I think so," Squiglette agreed.  
  
"But she's got to be pretty," Asqueek pointed out.  
  
"And smart," agreed Squiglette.  
  
"Not to mention Logical," Nanamek volunteered.  
  
"And old enough. You know, to get married," Navaro said. They all grinned at each other again.  
  
"Well, we'd better get to planning, then get to the palace, otherwise we won't know if our Human is here or not." Said Nanamek after a moment of more devious grinning.  
  
"'Our Human'?" asked Squiglette.  
  
"Yeah," Navaro offered quietly. "Our Human."  
  
They seemed to agree silently on that one.  
  
"OKAY!" Asqueek shouted. "Let's plan!"  
  
The four sat in a circle. Or, square. Whichever you prefer.  
  
"We should split up," Navaro proposed. "Two of us go into the Labyrinth to get Our Human to like King Jareth, and the other two goes to the palace to make King Jareth like Our Human. Every 780 minutes we'll meet."  
  
"780 minutes?"  
  
"It's a math problem. See, 13 hours - that's prime, you can't divide it equally unless by one, and we can't meet every ONE hour. So, we multiply thirteen by sixty, since there are sixty minutes in an hour, and it equals 780. Therefore, every seven hundred and eighty minutes we'll meet somewhere." Navaro finished.  
  
He sighed at the blank stares he received in return.  
  
"Okay, look at it this way - if a problem arises, ONE of whomever saw the problem goes to the others and the three clear it up. Then that one goes back to whoever their watching - Human or Fae - and solve the problem. Deal? Understand?"  
  
More blank stares.  
  
"ALRIGHT, I'll make this easier for you. First we split up - who's going with who to watch who?"  
  
"Elves are too smart," Squiglette muttered.  
  
Navaro gave a frustrated growl. He didn't get paid enough to be these nitwits' friend. "Look," he said slowly and loudly. "We have to split up. Two of us get King Jareth to like Our Human, and the other two get Our Human to like King Jareth. Understand?"  
  
"YES!"  
  
"Good. Now we're getting somewhere." Navaro thought a moment. "So, let's split into our groups first - who's going with who?"  
  
They all understood him this time.  
  
"I think that Asqueek and I should watch Our Human, since we're both girls and our Aboveground contestant is gonna be a girl. Navaro and Squiglette can both get King Jareth to fall in love with Our Human," Nanamek volunteered.  
  
"Well, okay," Asqueek said slowly. Squiglette shrugged.  
  
"No," Navaro argued. "That won't work. It illogical. I think that Squiglette and I should go about Our Human, and Nanamek and Asqueek handle King Jareth."  
  
"NO! boys don't listen to girls!"  
  
"FINE! Asqueek and I handle Our Human, and Squiglette and Nanamek handle King Jareth. Deal."  
  
"fine."  
  
"ALRIGHTY then, now we need to choose a time and place to meet every two hours." Navaro translated his earlier speech, but gave up on the math. They wouldn't understand, he reasoned.  
  
"How about right here?" Squiglette offered. "It's hidden, safe, and easy to get to from all sides of the Labyrinth. What do ya guys think?"  
  
"It'll work," said Nanamek. "So now all we have to do is find the latest challenger and see if she's Our Human,"  
  
"Logical enough," Navaro agreed.  
  
"Let's go to the Castle now - we'll be able to see and stuff from there and all - and we'll know." Squiglette cried, jabbing a finger in the air and jumping to his feet.  
  
"Yeah!" Asqueek imitated him. Navaro and Nanamek simultaneously stood up. "Let's go, then."  
  
And off they go!  
~*~*~  
  
Third person POV, castle, about ten minutes after the last scene, Squiglette.  
  
~*~*~  
.  
  
"King Jareth?" Squiglette asked tentatively, standing in the throne room of the castle. He threw a look over his shoulder to where his friends were cowering behind a stone pillar. They'd decided on who would go talk to King Jareth by drawing straws. Except, Navaro had cut on of the straws so that it was shorter, and Squiglette had gotten the shorter one. Now he stood in the throne room (almost empty, the lunch crowd had left) and Jareth stared down at him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um, I was thinking, you see, that, um, you see," he paused at the annoyed look on Jareth's face. "um, Navaro wanted to ask you something!" he finally said in a high pitched squeak, pointing wildly to the stone pillar. Asqueek's hands could clearly be seen shoving Navaro out, and he glared at her before venturing forth to stand next to Squiglette.  
  
"Heelo, King Jareth," he said. "Haven't we been having EXCELLENT wheather lately? Say, you haven't by any chance responded to a call from the Aboveground, have you? I mean, the sky is just so BLUE and-"  
  
by now Jareth had figured out what the two (or four, he noted) wanted from him. To see a Human - most had no interest in Humans, except the babies that had been turned into Goblins. Squiglette was one of them (a human baby turned Goblin, I mean) Navaro was an Elfling - his view about everything would be neutral once his parents got a better hold on him. Asqueek was just a simple Goblin maiden - except her father had been a Human turned Goblin, and Nanamek was a Fairy-Pixy, or half at least. Her mother had been Jareth's sister's adoptive daughter, a Human baby that she had begged Jareth not to turn into a Goblin. How she had managed to have Nanamek was beyond Jareth's reasoning. Either way, Nanamek was a rather tall Fairy-pixy (about three feet by now).  
  
So it made perfect sense that they were interested in Humans.  
  
Jareth listened to Navaro babble about the weather, and Squiglette mumble something about unfair straws for a while, then held up a gloved hand. They both grew quiet. "Would the other two be interested in Humans as well?" he asked, nodding towards the pillar that the two maidens peered out. They went red and somehow managed to get next to Navaro and Squiglette.  
  
Jareth could sense their awe at his having guessed their intentions - but not all of it. they wanted something more, specifically from him, otherwise they'd have asked an adult and the adult would have asked Jareth permission to take them Aboveground for a visit. What was it that they wanted? Jareth didn't want to know.  
  
"What's your sudden interest in the Aboveground dwellers?" he asked. despite what the other kingdoms thought of him, Jareth was very good with kids. The Labyrinth turned babies into Goblins unless Jareth intervened, and he didn't do that. Except for Nanamek's mother, perhaps, but that was it. he remembered Asqueek's father and what Squiglette had been like before, and the memories made him smile. How could those Humans do such things to such innocent children?  
  
"Well," Navaro said carefully. "We was thinking that maybe we could, um, talk! Talk to a Human girl, at least, Asqueek and I want to." he paused to take a breath. "We won't tell them the way through the Labyrinth! We promise! Pleeeeaaaaase?"  
  
"PLEASE?" Asqueek echoed. Jareth cocked an eye at Squiglette and Nanamek. "What about you two?" he asked. "We were thinking we could see the Human baby," Nanamek said breathlessly. Jareth was playing into their game - he wondered what it was. "All right. I have to get going then. When I come back I'll show the Human girl to Asqueek and Navaro, and Nanamek and Squiglette can watch the baby."  
  
They were slightly taken aback (Jareth and Their Human needed to be separated first) but the idea was one that they loved, and they all gave hopeful smiles as Jareth stood and stretched.  
  
"I'll be right back," he said, and transformed into an owl and flew away. All four kids squealed.  
  
"YES!" said Squiglette. "Its working! Hee hee, I can't wait!" he slapped a high five with Asqueek. "You two," Nanamek sighed. "He suspects something, dummies. Didn't you see that calculating look in his eyes? And what if King Jareth figures out our plan? I don't think that he'll approve."  
  
"WELL," Navaro said, deciding that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, "Think of it this way; we're doing King Jareth a favor. He's been alive for twenty thousand million years, and he's still single. My mother said that he's going to get dethroned if he doesn't get an heir in thirty million more years. SO, we're also doing the Labyrinth and city a favor too. See? We're helping the entire Underground!" Navaro decided to ignore his failing logic. Elves are very logical creatures, see.  
  
"Well," she muttered. "But we can't do any part of the plan if Our Human and Jareth are together. Keep them separated, Duh."  
  
"How?"  
  
now THAT was a logical question. ^_^  
  
"Well, King Jareth stays HERE with YOU TWO, and Asqueek and I talk to Our Human."  
  
And THAT was a logical answer!  
  
Just then, there was a wail, and they all jumped and looked at the throne. There was a little blond baby, no more then one year old (or a hundred, Squiglette figured) wailing at the top of his lungs.  
  
Squiglette cried and jammed his fingers into his ears. Navaro ground his teeth together and stumbled backwards, clapping his hands to his finely pointed ears as well (Elves have really, really good hearing). Asqueek just stood there staring. (her eardrums were numb). But Nanamek, half human, cried out and rushed forwards, and grabbed the Human Baby in her arms and rocked it (sort of. she was only three feet tall), cooing softly until it stopped crying.  
  
"Oh, my head," Navaro moaned, slowly standing up. "And Squiglette and you have to spend thirteen hours with that thing?!? Ha!"  
  
Nanamek sighed, rocking the baby only a foot smaller then her. Despite her size, Fairy-Pixies are very strong.  
  
A moment later, Jareth walked in. "Okay," he said. "You two come with me," and he walked back out again. Navaro and Asqueek followed at a run (b/c Jareth had long legs and was about five million feet taller [in Squiglette's opinion])  
  
Then they disappeared and reappeared on the top of the Labyrinth walls. "I have to watch the baby, to make sure that nothing bad happens to him," Jareth explained. I'll be watching, so don't you try to tell her the way through the Labyrinth."  
  
"Don't worry!" Navaro assured. "So, uh, where is she?"  
  
Jareth pointed down to a girl at a slight distance, talking to a worm. She then got up and was about to go to the castle, but then turned around and went the other way. "That idiot," Navaro said. "She'd have gone trait to the castle! What, does she want her baby to be a Goblin? Geeze! Illogical!"  
  
"She's not thinking strait right now," Jareth decided, watching her carefully. "I think that I gave her a bit of a scare." They watched her for a moment, then the bay's wailing could be heard all the way across the Labyrinth. "Don't guide her," Jareth warned, then disappeared.  
  
Asqueek and Navaro glanced at each other, then hopped down and followed the girl. Their girl. Their Human.  
Sarah made her way about, and stared blankly at a sign with about a hundred hands pointing everywhere. Then she turned when she heard Toby's cry and sighed. "I'm coming Toby," she said, more to reassure herself. Then she started forward when there was a tugging at her left jean leg, and she looked down.  
  
There, about as tall as her thigh, was a Goblin! She screamed and jumped away. "What do you want??" she asked wildly. Then logic took over. This Goblin was smaller then her! She rounded on it. "HOW DO I GET TO THE CENTER OF THIS LABYRINTH?!?" she ordered, hoping to scare it into talking. It worked. Or, the scaring part did. The Goblin squealed, and darted away around a corner. "Hey! Come back, you coward!" She shouted, and gave chase.  
  
She noted about five minutes later that Goblins were faster then they looked. Finally she came to a stop at a bend, and panting, walked slowly around it. there was her Goblin in the dead end, looking about ready to. cry. It squealed again when she took another forward, and jumped and tried to climb up the wall.  
  
It looked fearfully over its shoulder as Sarah continued to near, and she realized something. This is a child Goblin! She hadn't thought that Goblins had children, but this definitely looked like a child. "Wait," she called as it managed to dart around her. She gave chase again, but luck was on her side, and it was slow from the earlier run. It stopped at another dead end and attempted to climb up the wall again.  
  
"I hate Humans!" it, no, she cried as she began to cry. "No wonder King Jareth is always so serious about rescuing the poor babies!" when she, the little Goblin girl, realized she couldn't climb the wall, she pressed her back to it and watched a very shocked Sarah come nearer and nearer, and she realized she couldn't make an escape. She cried harder. Would this Human eat her? She didn't know. "Navaro!" she cried. "Navaro, help!"  
  
"Wait," the Human repeated, and was in front of her and knelt down. "You're a child Goblin, aren't you?" Asqueek edged away. "No, wait, I won't hurt you! I'm sorry if I scared you earlier!" Sarah tried in vain to get the Goblin Girl to say something else, but her lip was buttoned. Then a voice behind her made her jump.  
  
"Asqueek! What are you doing?" Sarah turned around and gasped. A little taller then the Goblin girl, standing there, another child. She was certain. He had a narrow body build and pointed ears, set beneath a very, very light blond that almost looked white, with golden highlights, and it came to just above his shoulders. His oval eyes were bright, bright, bright green around the dilated pupils. His hands were on his hips, and his head was cocked slightly to one side. "Y-you're an Elf, aren't you," Sarah said disbelievingly. "Nah," he said. "I'm a Dragon." She couldn't believe it. an Elf child just said something sarcastic to me!! she thought wildly. Maybe he knew the way through the Labyrinth.  
  
"Navaro!" the Goblin girl behind her cried, and darted between her legs and swung around so that she was hiding behind the Elf. "Navaro, she's bad! She's not Our Human! To match HER up with King Jareth would curse him and the Labyrinth, not make things better!"  
  
the Elf (named Navaro, Sarah figured) sighed. "No, Asqueek, she's fine. She is Our Human, she'll work. She's fine."  
  
The Goblin's name was Asqueek, then.  
  
"she's scary!"  
  
"so is King Jareth!"  
  
"Yeah, but he's the Goblin King, that's to be expected! At least he's nice and likes children! She obviously doesn't!" Asqueek pointed wildly at Sarah, who was torn between hearing these children talk about the Goblin King or asking them for help.  
  
"She is not bad," Navaro the Elfling insisted. "And I'll prove it."  
  
"No, she'll eat you!" Asqueek cried in horror as Navaro started towards Sarah (who was still kneeling). "she won't bite, let alone eat me," Navaro flicked over his shoulder. "Humans can't! my mother said so."  
  
"NO!" Asqueek rushed forward and grabbed Navaro's arm. "Navaro, don't! she will, she's scary!"  
  
"Don't start that again," Navaro sighed, jerking his arm away. "Fine, if you think that she's going to eat you then you'll have to prove it." and with that, Navaro threw Asqueek over his shoulder and marched over to Sarah, the little Goblin maiden squealing and crying and flailing the entire way. Sarah watched as Navaro put her down in front of her, then twisted her by the shoulders and pushed her almost directly in to Sarah.  
  
"See? I don't see her drooling over your wanna-be-tender flesh." Navaro said, letting her shoulders go. Asqueek stumbled back into him, and they both fell with chorused "Umph!"s.  
  
"I won't hurt you," Sarah stepped in, and reached out to Asqueek. "Its okay, Asqueek. I don't bite."  
  
"HOW DOES SHE KNOW OUR NAMES?!?" Asqueek wailed, and attempted to get away by thrashing, but Navaro pinned her arms to her sides and pushed her face into Sarah's hand. "Because she heard us use them, stupidhead. There, see? Does her hand have poisonous acid on it that's going to burn through your flesh and take over your body, assuring the destruction of the Labyrinth?"  
  
Asqueek trembled under Sarah's touch, and the fifteen year old marveled at how soft her cheek was. "Open your eyes - getting acquainted usually includes eye contact." Navaro said pointedly, and biting her lower lip, Asqueek slowly cracked her tear-blurred eyes open. Sarah smiled softly (A/N: ooh, SarahSighedSoftly - say that twenty times as fast as you can!)  
  
"Hello, my name's Sarah. I'm really very sorry of I scared you earlier. I was just stressed out, and I'm scared for Toby. Toby is my baby brother - I accidentally wished him away." Asqueek opened her eyes all the way. "How can you accidentally wish somebody away? You've got a whole long line to say!"  
  
"King Jareth changed it, remember? Now its just ' I wish the Goblins would come and take you away right now'. Can I let you go now?" Navaro asked.  
  
"yes."  
  
He let her go, and she carefully stepped away from Sarah. The two children looked her up and down. "She's very pretty," Asqueek admitted finally, lowering her head. "She looks okay." Navaro agreed. "But we've yet to judge her logic."  
  
"What has logic got to do with it?" Asqueek asked. "I mean, just because Elves thrive off of logic doesn't mean that she absolutely HAS to have it!"  
  
"Not only am I looking out for the Elven part of the labyrinth," Navaro interjected, "But King Jareth is very logical himself, except he can except illogical things too if he sees them." The Elfling gave a self-satisfied nod.  
  
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Sarah broke in. "But I need to get through this Labyrinth. Can you help me? I have to save Toby!"  
  
"Uhh," Navaro and Asqueek looked at each other.  
  
"I want to help her," Asqueek whispered.  
  
"Yeah, but we promised King Jareth that we wouldn't," Navaro whispered back. Both thought that Sarah couldn't hear them, but she could (heheheh.)  
  
"But, if King Jareth doesn't find out."  
  
"No! we promised, Asqueek!"  
  
"Yeah, but, um. well, your logical! Find a logical solution!"  
  
"well excu-use me! okay, we promised to not show her the way, or help her through, right? So that's that!"  
  
"well, your smart! Think of something!"  
  
"Don't you think I've been trying???"  
  
Sarah watched them for a while and listened to their bickering for a moment, then broke in, "I'm sorry to interrupt," She repeated, "But I really need help? Can you help me?"  
  
"WE'RE WORKING ON IT!" Navaro shouted, shocking Sarah into silence. He then turned back to Asqueek.  
  
"Maybe we could point her in the right direction?" she suggested.  
  
"No, that falls under the categories of helping and showing. We can't do it! except maybe." Navaro glanced over his shoulder at Sarah, then whispered, "We, you and I, could switch places with Squiglette and Nanamek! They didn't promise to not help or show Sarah the way! Besides, we aren't here to help her through the Labyrinth, remember? We're here to observe, and see if she's The One, and if she is, You-know-what. Either way, no harm can come to her, and I think she's nice."  
  
Sarah wondered who 'the one' was. "Oh, but I want to walk with her!"  
  
"Well, it's the only way she can be helped! And she won't listen to us unless she gets help, so we have to help!"  
  
"Fine, you switch with Nanamek, but I want to stay with her."  
  
"Why Nanamek?"  
  
"Because I read once somewhere that Humans like Fairies. And since Nanamek is half Fairy-Pixy."  
  
"Sarah will listen to her," Navaro finished. "And," he added, "It would be worse of it was Squiglette since he's King Jareth's adoptive son. Your right! Never in my life did I think that I would say that to you or any other Goblin." Navaro sighed and then turned toward Sarah. "Here is where you and I part, Sarah. It was a pleasure meeting you." Then, he twined one of his midlength hairs around his index finger and pulled. He then tied it around in a coil, and braided it. afterwards, he handed the ring to Sarah. "For luck," he said. "Elven hair is magic. I give this freely to you." Then he took a running leap and was on one of the walls. He waved cheerfully to Asqueek and Sarah, then took off at a sprint towards the castle. He was a very fast runner, especially for a ten thousand year old.  
  
~*~*~  
  
at the castle  
  
~*~*~  
  
Toby clapped his little hands together and giggled as Squiglette attempted to drag him to the other side of the room, where Nanamek and Jareth were watching. "You're a lot heavier then you look," Squiglette grunted as he finally collapsed at Jareth's feet, Toby next him. Jareth leaned down and picked both of them up.  
  
"Was I that heavy when I was a Human?" Squiglette asked. "Heavier," Jareth laughed. "But you didn't cry as much, and you were quick to take to your new body."  
  
"What about my mother?" Nanamek questioned. "She doesn't talk about her past a lot. She just hangs around with your sister."  
  
"Which would explain why I always get stuck with you," Jareth commented dryly. "Actually, your mother was pretty light, but she screamed a whole lot. I think that she wasn't meant to be wished away - I doubt that she'd have survived as a Goblin."  
  
"She said once that she might leave," Nanamek continued. "Do you think that she'd actually go Aboveground and leave me alone? What would I do? Where would I go? Your sister (A/N: okay, I give up. Jareth's sister is the Fairy Queen, and her husband is a Pixy, that's why Nanamek is a half Fairy-Pixy.) doesn't really like me that much."  
  
"Well," Jareth said, "I doubt your mother would leave to be a Human again, but if she did then I'd have to find you a foster family or adopt you myself."  
  
"Like me?" asked Squiglette. "You adopted me. but nobody else wanted me."  
  
Jareth snorted. "Actually, I didn't look for a family for you. You were special - besides, your Human family was abusing and awful. I adopted you without the Council's consent."  
  
The Council was the leaders of every part of the Underground met and decided something like a child without a family, the Aboveground children in general. Sometimes a ruler would adopt a child, but they needed to sign a lot of papers first and everybody else at the council would have to agree. All of the council. Jareth, however, adopted Squiglette right away and afterwards there was nothing the council could do about it. so they voted that THEY would get to name him, and thus, Squiglette.  
  
Sudden Navaro jumped in through one of the windows and landed lightly and gracefully on the floor. "Don't do that!" Nanamek said sternly (for he had startled her). "Sorry," he said, then grabbed her arm. "We need to talk. Hold on, King Jareth!" and the two sped off. Or, more accurately, Navaro sped off dragging Nanamek behind him.  
  
"What was that all about?" asked Squiglette after a moment, attempting to imitate the way Jareth was sitting while still on his lap with Toby next to him.  
  
"I don't think that I want to know." Jareth shook his head as Toby whimpered. "I think he misses his sister," Squiglette announced. Jareth wordlessly summoned a crystal and the three of them watched the image of Sarah and Asqueek walking.  
  
"It's not fair," Sarah was complaining. Asqueek shrugged as they doubled back at a dead end. "This is impossible!"  
  
"No it isn't," Asqueek mumbled, and tripped over her own feet in the process of backing up. Sarah picked her up and balanced her on her hip, still complaining as she tried a different route. "An accident!" she wailed. "It was an ACCIDENT!"  
  
"That's what they all say," Asqueek announced grandly, relaxing her head onto Sarah's shoulder. "What about Navaro? Where did he go?"  
  
"To the castle."  
  
"WHAT?!?" Sarah froze. "You mean, we've been going the wrong way this entire time??"  
  
"Well," Asqueek said. "Why didn't you tell me?" Sarah demanded. "It was funny," Asqueek admitted. "Besides, I myself don't know the entire Labyrinth. I haven't had a chance to explore it all."  
  
"Well, that's nice," Sarah replied sarcastically, and doubled back. Or, she tried to, but there was a wall in her way. She turned around again and saw the narrow passageways of the Labyrinth opened. "This was a dead end a minute ago," she said disbelievingly.  
  
"No it wasn't," Asqueek pointed out. "You just took an illusion for granted. That's what the Labyrinth is - an illusion. If you can abandon all logic and technicality, and stay sane, then it would just be a walk in the park."  
  
"can you?" Sarah asked. Asqueek shook her head. "I've got Human blood, no matter how faint it is; I couldn't if I tried. But I can memorize it!"  
  
Sarah froze. "You've got Human blood?" she asked. "Yeah," Asqueek said with a shrug. "My daddy was a Human-turned-Goblin. I've only got a drop, but its enough to block my abilities."  
  
"No kidding," Sarah said incredulously. "What about your mother?"  
  
"Goblin. But, um, if your interested, I've got a friend - he's a Human- turned-Goblin too."  
  
"Really? Can I meet him?"  
  
"maybe. If he comes - maybe. See, King Jareth,"  
  
"turned him into a Goblin." Sarah finished. "Is he very sad?"  
  
"No," Asqueek said. "and King Jareth didn't turn him into a Goblin, the Labyrinth did. King Jareth can interfere with the Labyrinth's intentions, though, and keep a Human as a Human."  
  
"He can? Has he ever done it before?"  
  
"Twice, I think." Asqueek said. "Its pretty powerful magic, and I think the second time almost killed him 'cause my parents were all freaked out. The first was about a hundred million gazillion years ago, afore I was born. The Council needed to examine Humans better, so Jareth used himself as a shield to block the Labyrinth's magic. But the Human died, I think, a little while later. A newborn, I believe. Anyway, the second was one of my friend's mother - King Jareth's sister took a liking to her and begged him not to turn her into a Goblin. She got permission from the council, and when she told that to King Jareth, it was almost too late."  
  
"Wow," Sarah said, and started walking again. "But, if he used himself as a shield, wouldn't he be turned into a Goblin?" Sarah asked. Asqueek snorted.  
  
"King Jareth?" she asked. "Well, I suppose it might if he was caught unawares and defenseless - he's only part Human, see. His mother was a Half Fairy, His father was a. something, its something i can't pronounce. His race was known for seducing, and their magical powers, though."  
  
"Jareth's a seducer?" Sarah interrupted. "Yes and no," Asqueek said. "He's lucky; he got the good end of the deal. The magical powers of that whatever his father was, the looks and self control of the Humans, the ability to turn on and off certain abilities from the Fairies, and being able to transform into an sort of bird. That's why he's so famous amid the Underground. Never has there been such cross breeding, and a survivor."  
  
"Oh," Sarah said. "Hey, didn't you say he had a sister?"  
  
"Yup, but she's really mean. She took a liking to Nanamek's mother, but she doesn't like Nanamek. Rude, rude Fairy Queen. She got all the Fairy traits, a little bit of Magic, the looks of a Human (Human traits are very strong), but doesn't have the self-control over her seducing powers like Jareth does. Or, in other words, one is a virgin still, and the other. well, one's got a sense of modesty."  
  
"Jareth?"  
  
"HOW did you guess?"  
  
"Just a wild thought. So, what about his parents?"  
  
"You seem awfully interested in the King,"  
  
"Just curious."  
  
"Huh. Yeah right. I think that you-"  
  
"ASQUEEK!"  
  
Asqueek and Sarah stopped and looked around. Nanamek was running as fast as her little legs could carry her, and Asqueek slid from Sarah's grasp when she caught up.  
  
"Nanamek!" cried the Goblin Maiden. "Sarah, this is Nanamek, the half Fairy- Pixy I was telling you about."  
  
"Pleased to meet you," Nanamek said distractedly, placing her small palm in Sarah's. she then turned to Asqueek. "We need to talk," she said, and grabbed the Goblin girl and dragged her away (VERY strong little bugger, isn't she?) "Wait there, Sarah!" Asqueek called.  
  
Once around a corner, Nanamek whispered, "What are you doing? They aren't supposed to know! Besides, King Jareth is watching, I think. And its not your right to tell his family life to Sarah."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Its not your right!"  
  
"Well, Jareth obviously isn't going to do it. besides, she's interested."  
  
"what?"  
  
"You know, interested. I find it strange that one Human can have so many questions about one male and say for an explanation, 'Simply curious'. It isn't done that way!"  
  
"Ooh, look who's the expert at courting!"  
  
"Well I'm a lot better then you!"  
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Hey, you two?" Sarah ventured around the bend. "I think we have a problem."  
  
"Problem?" Nanamek asked. "What, is the Labyrinth too hard for you?"  
  
"No! it's a piece of cake!"  
  
both Asqueek and Nanamek tried to warn her, but it was too late. "SARAH!" they chorused as the ground beneath her opened up and she fell. "Oh no!" Nanamek cried, and threw herself in before the hole could close. Asqueek would have followed, but the hole was too small and was closing rapidly fast. She looked about her in silence. "Now what?" 


	2. Prologue 2, or Chapter 1

A/N: well, well, well, somebody's reading this. *looks impressed* you must be really weird if you think that this is anything that could meet your expectations, though. ^_^0  
  
Disclaimer: dunnown.  
  
Chapter Started: 3/10/03 Chapter Finished: 3/30/03  
  
Notes: okay, I don't know about you, but whenever I read a story with OCs, I never quite got them. So, if you're anything like me, then I'll review the specialties for you; Squiglette, my favorite of the Fearsome Foursome, is a Human-turned-Goblin, when his abusive family wished him away. Jareth adopted him immediately, but he couldn't be the heir to the Labyrinth b/c he isn't Jareth's blood son. Nanamek is a half Fairy-Pixy. Her mother is Jareth's sister's favorite of all - a human girl that she begged Jareth to save from being a Goblin. But Jareth's sister doesn't like Nanamek for some reason, and Nanamek's mother is going to go back to the Aboveground at some point later in time, and abandon her only daughter; because a three foot little immortal girl with wings and pale, pale skin would not survive in the Aboveground. Asqueek, a Goblin maiden, Squiglette's first friend. Her father is a Human-turned-Goblin, and doesn't remember a thing about his past life. Navaro is an Elfling child - need I say more? All Elves are cocky - so please excuse his lik' attitude. I rather think its cute. ^_^ Understand? Good!  
  
.  
  
.  
  
~  
  
At the palace, Squiglette and Navaro  
  
~  
  
.  
  
.  
  
Say, King Jareth? Are you going to leave Nanamek and Sarah trapped down in that obliette forever?" asked Navaro, staring into the crystal. Jareth wiped the image and the crystal disappeared. "No, my dear Elfling. When her thirteen hours are up I'll send her home and save Nanamek."  
  
"Oh. Well, don't you like, you know, want to, uhh, help them? I mean, its boring otherwise."  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, could Nanamek help Sarah?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not? She didn't promise anything. Its perfectly logical. And besides, if you go now to make her promise, then you'd have to at least take Nanamek out, and then you'd have to take Sarah out, and the whole nine yards."  
  
Jareth stared openly at the Elf who sat on his chair's right arm. He couldn't believe it - how the heck had he overlooked this?  
  
"Shimatta," he decided finally, swearing in a different language.  
  
"So, uh," Navaro went on, but stopped when Jareth twisted his hands and brought his fingertips together.  
  
"Then," he said, "This'll just be more of a challenge."  
  
They peered into the crystal again. Asqueek, Nanamek, and Sarah were all in the forest of the Firies.  
  
"Cool," Squiglette remarked.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Asqueek, Nanamek, Sarah - The Forest (ooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooooh!!!)  
  
~*~*~  
  
"where are we?"  
  
"I don't know - I've never been here."  
  
"The Fire-ies Forest - the Fire-y gangs live here. I've been here b'fore - come on, let's go, I'll lead you to the castle." Nanamek shook a finger at Sarah. "But you have to promise something first."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't hate King Jareth."  
  
Sarah blinked. "Excuse me?"  
  
Nanamek sighed. "Don't hate King Jareth. He's really a nice guy. He's only doing something his great granddad set up that he's too guilty to relaw."  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"The Aboveground and Labyrinth laws," Asqueek piped up. "King Jareth's "great grandfather" made those laws, and when he died he begged Jareth's "father" not to change those. So, I guess, Jareth really doesn't want to do this stuff."  
  
Sarah frowned. "You mean, he doesn't like kidnapping babies?" this was news to her.  
  
Asqueek gave a dramatized sigh, and Nanamek furrowed her brow. "Kidnapping babies? No, Jareth saves them. Usually families that don't want their kids or other kids or can't support them, they wish them away. A lot of times kids wish themselves away. You and only a couple others have actually wished away and regretted it afterwards."  
  
"Yea," Asqueek said.  
  
"Oh," Sarah mottled. "Um, so you mean, he....... wouldn't hurt Toby?"  
  
"He's only doing what you asked him to."  
  
"Oh."  
  
All this time, Nanamek had been wandering through the forest, Sarah and Asqueek following. They walked now in silence, and the only sound was the slight crunching of leaves.  
  
"Uh, Nanamek?" Sarah asked haltingly after a while. "What does Jareth do with the kids while people like me are in the Labyrinth?"  
  
"Whatever he wants." Asqueek said, rolling her eyes. "Duh." Sarah frowned. "And what do you mean by that?"  
  
"He sings, he dances, they laugh, they cry, and they sleep. If there's a really bad brat then I bet he'd just put a sleeping spell on it and make the thirteen hours into thirteen days just to get rid of it," Nanamek smiled. "Actually, I'm not really sure. You're the first Human I've seen."  
  
"Oh." Sarah stated. They walked on in silence for a while, then a Firey popped out of nowhere.  
  
"LET'S TAKE 'EM APART, BOYS!" it shouted, and charged for Sarah, but Asqueek tripped it and it went flying in all different directions. "Hey!" its head shouted. Then all of the other fireys jumped out, and a few minutes later there was a lot of heads shouting, "HEY!".  
  
Nanamek clapped her hands together and nodded to the left. "This way," she said happily.  
  
"Sarah stared at the Goblin Girl and Half Fairy-pixy for a moment before a furry read hand gripped her ankle, and she tore after Asqueek and Nanamek with a wail.  
  
An hour later, they were out of the forest and in a Junk Yard. It was then that a shout came from ahead, and Squiglette came running (somewhat clumsily) towards them. He stopped short, panting.  
  
When he finally caught his breath, he looked at Sarah, Nanamek, and Asqueek. "King Jareth says that she can find her way now. And he wants to have a little 'talk' with you, Nanamek." In his worldly innocence, Squiglette just could NOT think of what Jareth's little 'talk' might be about, so he smiled happily. "Right now he's talking to Navaro."  
  
But Nanamek was more interested in other things. "What did he say when he found out I could lead Sarah to the castle logically without breaking his rules?"  
  
"He had this funny look on his face then he said 'shimatta'." Squiglette answered. "Why?"  
  
Nanamek laughed. "Ooh, didn't like our little plan, eh? KING JARETH I THINK THAT IT'S A BIT LATE TO CALL US FOR A LITTLE 'TALK' AND LEAVE SARAH TO HER OWN YA KNOW!" he was watching and listening with Navaro, of course, Nanamek knew this.  
  
A while passed in silence. "Uh, King Jareth, that's your Q to come out and yell at us now."  
  
"Why would I do that, hmm?" answered a voice. "I rather like this little plan of yours. You and the other three - really. I've already got plenty of new challenges - you've still a long way to go, Sarah."  
  
"I want Toby!" Sarah shouted immediately. "Give him back you sick perv-"  
  
"UH, SHE MEANS," Nanamek interrupted loudly, "That I have to stay with her!"  
  
"No, I'm sorry Nanamek," Jareth's disembodied voice now sounded flat. "Squiglette is to stay with her and "guide" her as you say. You and Asqueek come here with Navaro and I and Toby - I think the Elfling has taken a bit of a liking to the baby. Too much of a liking." He dropped his voice considerably at the last part.  
  
~  
  
in the castle, Jareth and Navaro  
  
~  
  
Jareth paused from speaking into his crystal to watch Navaro beat up a couple of goblins that had wandered in and actually breathed on Toby.  
  
~  
  
the junkyard, Sarah, Asqueek, Squiglette, and Nanamek  
  
~  
  
"Ai, um, but King Jareth,"  
  
"No buts, Asqueek. What would your parents do to me if you fell into an oubliette or something?"  
  
"They'd attempt to assasinate you!" she answered helpfully. "Uh, I mean..." she glanced at all of the stares she was receiving. "You're right King Jareth. I'm coming right no-" but she disappeared because Jareth had simply made her appear in the palace next to his throne. But Sarah didn't know that.  
  
"Where is she?" she asked wildly. "What did you do to her?"  
  
"nothing," Jareth replied. "Nanamek," he added in a warning tone. But Nanamek gave (triumphant) laugh. "Ha, King Jareth, you can't use my mom against me! nope, nope, nope!"  
  
"Right," Jareth's bodiless voice replied. "But I CAN use Sarah against you."  
  
Nanamek frowned. Jareth wouldn't hurt Sarah.... But he would probably make her suffer against unfair advantages and watch her baby brother get turned into a Goblin.  
  
"Oh, alright." She replied sullenly. And she disappeared.  
  
Sarah was almost in a panic now as Jareth said, "Sarah you only have five hours left. You'd best hurry."  
  
"FIVE HOURS?!?" Sarah roared. "I have more then that!"  
  
"Not any more. My Labyrinth's a piece of cake, remember?"  
  
And there was silence after that. Jareth stopped talking (and looking for that matter) through his crystal.  
  
At a loss, Sarah looked at Squiglette, who had been silent for the time being. "Can you help me?" she asked as though expecting a 'no'.  
  
"Of course," Squiglette replied. "Sure I can. That's what I was sent here for."  
  
"Can you see through the Labyrinth like Asqueek said before? Or do YOU have Human blood too?"  
  
"I was a Human once," Squiglette said. "Nanamek and Asqueek told you about me, remember? I saw through King Jareth's crystal." He drew himself up and attempted to imitate Jareth, failing miserably. "I'M something the Prince. 'scept I'm not." He explained.  
  
"or in other words, no I can't. but I've got a good portion memorized! And I know the rest of the way from here - but 'member, King Jareth is going to add challenges." He beamed at this, and Sarah frowned.  
  
"so..... let's get going, then."  
  
"okay! Follow me!" and with that said, Squiglette took off at a run surprisingly fast, and Sarah panted at the entrance to the Goblin City where he had been waiting for her.  
  
"you're slow." He remarked, being painfully true (as all children under the age of ten are).  
  
"through the city, and once we're in the castle I can't help - there I'm going to get to swear not to help you, as the others, then all four of us are going to go with you! This IS our first time seeing a real Human - you're pretty pretty for somebody who isn't fae." He paused. "well, in we go!"  
  
Squiglette grabbed Sarah's hand and lead her through to a Goblin city bustling with Goblins, a few elves, some Fairies, some Pixies, all of whom stared openly at Sarah and Squiglette before going back to whatever they were doing.  
  
Sarah could not stop being shocked when Squiglette led her straight into Jareth's throne room in just ten minutes, and out of the corner of her eye she saw that she had nine three hours left. Briefly she thought that she should have more than that, but her attention came immediately to focus on Jareth and in his arms, Toby. Navaro, Asqueek, Nanamek, and various other Goblins were there too, and all came to a hush when she and Squiglette entered.  
  
When Toby saw Sarah he immediately cooed and clapped his hands, bouncing in his captor's lap.  
  
"hello, Sarah," Jareth acknowledged. Sarah waited for him to say something more, but when he didn't she let out a bated breath and took a step forward, speaking in a slightly quavering voice. "give me my brother back. I beat your stupid maze-" Navaro, Nanamek, Asqueek, and Squiglette all flinched "-in time, and you promised that you'd give me my brother back. Give him back! I said give him-"  
  
"I heard you the first time." Jareth snapped, and stood, still holding Toby whom was giggling as only a baby can.  
  
"and when did I promise anything? Hmm? You still have a few challenges ahead of you - though the children have convinced me to let them accompany you. So here's your new little problem - if you can find your baby brother within this castle in..... two hours, say, then you can have him back and go home a big sister. If you don't, I get to keep him and you go home an only child."  
  
"but that's not fai-" however, Jareth and Toby vanished. Slowly, all eyes in the room turned to Sarah, who let out a frustrated growl and stamped her foot, cursing every one and thing that she could thing of - namely Jareth.  
  
"well," she sighed at last, turning her gaze to the clock. "here I go again." She started toward the only other open passageway, and didn't notice the elfling, half fairy-pixy, and two goblins follow her until she froze and gasped in something that was an exact replica of the Echer room.  
  
"isn't it neat?" Asqueek's voice echoed and made Sarah jump, and she whirled around to confront the four.  
  
"we get to come, remember?" reminded Navaro. The other three nodded emphatically. Sarah turned her gaze back to the endless stairways and swallowed before turning around again. "which way do I go?" she asked. the children glanced at each other uneasily. "we can't tell you; but I might suggest that," Nanamek paused, then looked to Navaro for a logical thing to say. "go the obvious way," he said. "think - if you were Jareth, where would you go? See everything from his point of view; think his thoughts; predict him. Then go that way - it shouldn't be too hard."  
  
A logical answer with truth and didn't lead Sarah anywhere! That kid would make a good politician, Sarah thought. Then she mulled over the Elfling's words for a while, thinking out loud in hope they might catch her mistake should she have one.  
  
"if I were Jareth," she said slowly, trying in vain to put herself in his shoes (not that they would fit, she reminded herself) "with Toby - Toby seems to like him for some odd reason, so he won't give him away," Sarah frowned. "I wouldn't be worried about me - uh, Sarah I mean - finding me since she's got no idea where to go. I would be worried about, uh, somebody helping her....." she glanced at the "fearsome foursome" then her eyes grew wide "or some thing helping her! Nothing in this place can be taken for granted, so its possible for doors to talk I guess!" she was encouraged by Navaro's nod, "so I'd want her to take a way that won't be any help to her! Where she'd least expect me, along with anything/body else!" upon realizing this, Sarah beamed.  
  
But then she promptly stopped when she figured out that this wasn't going to help her. "great. I know what he's thinking and it's a really BIG help." Nanamek flinched somewhat at her sarcastic tone. "you're running out of time; just choose a way to go and don't go any other way cause then you'll get lost."  
  
"and getting lost isn't fun," Squiglette put in happily. "once I got lost in the labyrinth but I'm a goblin so I'm not about to go around calling for help and I just got lost more and more and more and more until about three days later King Jareth found me and I got in trouble and on top of that these three haven't been letting me forget it and that's really mean and I don't know why I just told you that cause its embarrassing so you just forget what I just said!"  
  
Sarah stared. "what?"  
  
"good. Thanks."  
  
There was momentary silence before Sarah turned on her heel and jumped down a short drop to a stairway. "whatever. Fine. Are you guys..... come....... ing?" she stared as the four of them scrambled up and down stares upside down and sideways to catch up with her.  
  
"how did you do that?!?"  
  
"do what?"  
  
"THAT!" she pointed at Squiglette, who was upside down on a staircase coming towards them. Then he tripped and tumbled every which way before sliding the rest of the way down and stopping at Sarah's feet on his nose. The other three roared with laughter. "not funny." He mumbled sullenly, and refused to talk to anybody (or thing) for the time being. His face was sore. (poor Squiglette!!!)  
  
"you just walk," Asqueek said to Sarah's earlier question. "you've got to trust, though - if you're scared then you'll just be a victim of gravity." She paused, then sighed. "we aren't going to get anywhere like this."  
  
Navaro and Nanamek stared at her in amazement. Had Asqueek just said something true and intelligent? no, no, that was impossible. They dismissed the thought.  
  
"she's right, though," Navaro admitted finally. "at this rate you might as well shout "hey Goblin King, I give up on your smelly little maze!", and then he'll trash you - never call the Labyrinth a maze."  
  
"why not?"  
  
"tis denoting."  
  
"oh."  
  
They still weren't getting anywhere. "I don't know which way to go," Sarah admitted finally, meaning to sit on one of the stairs but instead falling backwards and ended up flat on her back upside down. She promptly screamed her heart out and plummeted down a really, really long drop (so as to add spice to the story, you see). "Sarah!" the four followed of course;  
  
dang, this fic is getting suicidal. I'd better put a pillow in somewhere....  
  
Nah. Let her suffer!  
  
Ok, ok, my conscience is kicking in. this is Jareth's Q to pop up!  
  
Suddenly, just before she was about to hit the "ground" (should you call it that) in what was inevitably going to be a sickening and life-threatening crunch, time seemed to freeze and she opened her eyes. The "floor" was about half an inch from her face. Further inspection proved that Nanamek, Navaro, Asqueek, and Squiglette were in similar posistions, and she found herself staring at a shiny boot. (A/N: are Jareth's boots shiny? I've never looked at them in the movie. *sob* I'm a failure to all females! Did I just give away whose boot Sarah is seeing? Shoot!)  
  
Then she felt a hand grasp her ankle and she was right-side up again. Of course this unbalanced her, and she fell to her butt. Ouch! Bet that's going to leave a mark! The four children with her were all on the seats of their pants too, and they were all watching the owned of the shiny boot with wide eyes. Then Sarah looked up to see who it was, and her eyes got wide too! Go her!  
  
Jareth crossed his arms. (Toby wasn't with him, obviously). "Since when," he said, pacing to stand in front of Squiglette, "-is committing suicide going to help anything?"  
  
"we weren't!" Sarah said loudly and defensively, jumping to her feet. "I was upside down and fell! They followed! Its not MY fault that I don't know the way through your stupid little maze, let alone your dumb castle!" she wanted to insult him, you see.  
  
And, of course, she succeeded. she ALSO managed to get Jareth pissed off! Now THAT'S an accomplishment! Go Sarah! I mean, wait a sec... that's bad, right? oops. Stupid Sarah! why'd she do that? Okay, I'll go back to third person POV now.  
  
"Sarah," Jareth drawled, bringing the name out slowly in an icy voice (or frosty voice, whichever you choose...). "answer me a question; why do you insist upon gallivanting about my kingdom in search of a drooling little baby brat?" his words had the desired effect, and Sarah flared up.  
  
"YOU," she wailed, but lowered her voice when it echoed loud enough to hurt her ears. "you," she repeated, "-are a jerk. Toby is not a brat, you are. A spoiled brat, I might add! And he doesn't drool - not hypothetically, at least! He's an infant! So I might watch what I'm saying!"  
  
"look whose talking!" Jareth shot back. "I wasn't the one who wished my baby brother away, now, was I? I wasn't the one who begged to have him back, went around scaring children helping, OR cheating! So I would watch what I say, Sarah Williams!"  
  
"oh ho ho, now who's defending who?" Sarah snarled, poking Jareth in the chest. "YOU, Jareth whatever-your-last-name-is, kidnapped Toby! I didn't MEAN to wish him away, it was an accident, and YOU KNOW IT! I only scared Asqueek because SHE scared ME! and since when have I been cheating?!? I'M not the one who has been frequently changing things around, scaring certain teenage girls (insert radio edit)-less, and I HAVE NOT been the spoiled MORON obsessed with my PREVERTED LITTLE MAZE kidnapping babies for a living and turning them into Goblins! I'M not the one sitting on my fat butt watching certain teenage girls scream helplessly because I've been hurting them! FOR ALL I KNOW, YOU COULD BE A CHILD RAPIST!!!"  
  
"child rapist?!?!? Well excuse me, miss I'm-the-Queen-of-Dreams, but I happen to save children from abusive families; THAT'S what the Labyrinth was originally designed for! It isn't MY fault that "certain teenagers" wish their babies away!" Jareth countered smoothly, catching her still- raised wrist in an iron-like grip. "If I were you, Sarah, I'd think about who the real spoiled brat here is."  
  
Sarah was rendered speechless. She opened and closed her mouth silently, glaring at Jareth angrily, unable to think of anything to say to that. Curses! She thought angrily. That jerk! That- here she mentally calls Jareth every name that she knows. They gave each other death-like glares, and a tentative sound from their left caused both to remember that the four younglings were still there.  
  
"Uh, Jareth, Sarah?" Squiglette asked softly. "Um, does this mean that Sarah isn't going to get to stay and find Toby?"  
  
"NO!" Sarah roared, momentarily forgetting the cold fingers squeezing the life out of her wrist, cutting off the circulation. "I'M GOING TO GET TOBY IF I HAVE TO KILL MYSELF AND OTHERS!!!" Of course she didn't mean that; but that proverb "look before you leap" doesn't play a role in the Labyrinth.  
  
They all stared openly at her.  
  
"even us?" Navaro asked softly, turning big eyes to Sarah beneath lashes. Now, Sarah should have said 'no, of course not, I didn't mean that' and then got her temper under control, then worked everything out verbally, but she didn't. of course. She was SO pissed off, that she didn't think about what affect her following thirteen words would have; "YES! I WOULD! I'D DO ANYTHING TO HAVE TOBY BACK, ANYTHING, D'YOU HEAR??!!?!?!??" she paused momentarily to reflect on this, but seeing Jareth out of the corner of her eye (still attempting to break her wrist), she went on.  
  
"IF I HAD TO BACK STAB MY BEST FRIEND TO HAVE HIM BACK, I WOULD! BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WINE!" what she didn't expect was for Asqueek, Squiglette, Nanamek, and even Navaro to burst into tears. She jumped at the abrupt sound(s), and froze, looking at them awkwardly. Whenever Toby cried, she would shout at him or give him a bottle or scream at Karen (step-mother, I'm guessing that her name is "Karen" I don't really know...). However, she couldn't do any of those to these three; she just couldn't. besides, they weren't babies like Toby was.  
  
So in regretted silence, Sarah watched as Navaro fled from the room, up one of the stairs, and vanished. Nanamek followed him, as did Asqueek, and Squiglette turned blurred eyes to Jareth and Sarah. "Ada?" he asked softly, choking somewhat on an unhappy sob. "I'll meet you in your quarters," Jareth replied softly. Sarah jumped (again). She hadn't really thought Jareth capable of a gentle tone, much less with a child. His earlier words echoed in her head, and she watched as he released her feeling-less hand and knelt down in front of Squiglette, giving him a swift, reassuring hug, then the little one turned and scampered the opposite way the other three had gone.  
  
Sarah briefly reflected Jareth's and her words in her head, and Jareth looked over his shoulder and cocked an eye from where he was still kneeling. "Are you happy, now, Sarah?" he asked, and Sarah felt a wave of guilt wash over her at the accusing tone in Jareth's voice.  
  
"I," she stammered, "I didn't mean... I didn't mean to..."  
  
"sure," Jareth replied. "just like you didn't mean to wish Toby away." He stood and slowly turned to face Sarah. "I'll help you - once we're out of this room, you're on your own, and I've got work to do." He brought a crystal up to her nose, then flung it casually over his shoulder, and Sarah blinked in the blinding flash of light, however brief, the followed, and found herself in a three way passageway that was dark and silent. Jareth was nowhere to be found. 


	3. the official Chapter 1

A/N: oh, did I just angstify our heroes a bit last chapter? I'm sorry. I'll try to get the REAL action/adventure up now! Oh, and just a reminder: this fic is AU, has OCs, and may be OOC, I'm not sure about that one. *scratches head* eh, well. Thank you, whomever is reading this! I love my readers! Mostly because they're actually crazy enough to actually be reading this all the way to chapter three - I'm not alone in this world! Yeah, so......  
  
Character review: Asqueek is a Goblin Maiden, whose father was a Human- turned-Goblin. Nanamek is a half Fairy-pixy visiting the Labyrinth. Navaro is an Elfling who lives on the border of the Labyrinth and is very logical (as only Elves can be). Squiglette is Jareth's "adoptive son", I suppose you might say, and is also a Human-turned-Goblin.  
  
Disclaimer: sadly, I do not own Labyrinth. I'm am simply using Jim Henson's characters for my own twisted amusement - I'll give them back when I'm done.  
  
Chapter Started: 3/30/03 Chapter Finished: 4/4/03  
  
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Sarah, hallway in the Castle Beyond the Goblin City (always wanted to say that!)  
  
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Sarah leaned against a wall and groaned. Did the world *personally* have something against her? Apparently so. She cursed herself for over-reacting and not paying attention to what she had been saying. Those four probably hate me now, she thought sullenly, choosing the left passage and entering it at a jog. She mused over Jareth's words. 'if I were you, Sarah, I'd think about who the real spoiled brat is.' He had said. Did this mean that he had called her a spoiled brat??? Sarah silently seethed at that one - some stupid Goblin King who ruled some stupid little maze had stupidly taken advantage of her stupid gullibility and stupidly made her regret each and every one of her stupid words. Stupid Jareth, she thought.  
  
The passage she had chosen was dark and glum, but after a while it lightened up and tumbled into a passageway with a sky-lit window. For a few, heart-stopping moments, Sarah thought that she had gone in a circle, but now she saw that one of the passageways had a wooden door on it. so, without a care in the world, Sarah went over, grasped the unlocked doorknob, and pushed it open.  
  
A scream met her ears, she screamed too, and slammed the door shut, taking off down the right hallway this time. Panting, she chanced to look behind her and shuddered, trying to forget the unwanted mental images that she had now acquired.  
  
She met another three-way that had a door on one of them again, but went straight forward this time. She carefully kept her glance from the door - she knew that she was going to have nightmares tonight.  
  
She broke into a jog and gasped somewhat as a sudden, blazing light blooded her vision, and she waited impatiently for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the large windows and either side of a much, much, much bigger hallway. Actually, it was more of a Great Hall, with a crimson colored carpet draped from wall to wall. It muffled Sarah's footsteps as she stalked across it, and went into an opening on the left at the other end. The windows and carpets and drapes were still in this hall, and Sarah found herself thinking her surroundings rather lavish. She went up a flight of stares, and entered a large hallway, with doors on either side.  
  
Maybe twenty doors in all - Sarah groaned again and fell to her knees.  
  
"This isn't fair!" she shouted to no one in particular. When nobody answered, she stood up and stalked down the hallway. She paused at one of the doors. Hesitantly, she raised her fist to nock (her last experience had taught her something). When nothing answered, she tested the doorknob - locked. This was the same for ALL of the doors on the left side, and for the first three on the right side.  
  
but the fourth door on the right side of the hallway was not locked, and when Sarah stepped through, she screamed and grasped the door knob on either side of the door as it swung lazily into the black nothing below and around her. She screamed again and kicked her legs until she was safely back on solid ground, and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily.  
  
So NOW not only did Sarah listen and knock on doors before she attempted to open them, but she only opened openable ones a crack and peered in from a safe distance. Of course, nothing like that occurred in that hallway because the rest of the doors were locked, except for one, and that just lead to another hallway, the exact same looking as the one before. She glanced out one of the windows and saw the sun setting. That couldn't be good.  
  
Hurridly, she snapped her fist on the nearest door and was just about to check if it was locked or not when a voice from the inside called, "go 'way." Sarah froze. "Nanamek?" she called.  
  
"I said leave me alone." Came the scathing reply.  
  
"No, Nanamek, please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said before, I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking straight!"  
  
there was a pause.  
  
"and why weren't you thinking straight?"  
  
"because..." Sarah rested her forehead against the door. "because, Nanamek, I was really angry. Jareth just pisses me off so much......." she sighed.  
  
"why does he make you so angry?"  
  
"because he," Sarah froze, thinking over what she was about to say. (thinking over what she was about to say?? 0_o oh my golly!). She'd learned enough to know that saying 'because he kidnapped Toby' and similar things wasn't true, and they knew it; so why *did* Jareth piss her off so much? She quickly came to a valid conclusion.  
  
"because he's so cocky. he acts like, like he owns the world, knows everything, and he constantly reminds me of my disposition." Sarah waited anxiously for the reply - the door was locked, and she didn't want to walk in on Nanamek anyway.  
  
"King Jareth is as King Jareth does. That's the way he always is - you should get used to it."  
  
"no! why? I've got absolutely NO reason to "tolerate" him in the slightest!"  
  
"yes you do. I think that, despite what you think Sarah, you two would make a good couple."  
  
That did it. Sarah felt the steam rising from her ears and she pounded a fist upon the door. "YOUR LIING!" she shouted, saying the first words that came to mind. There was no answer. "Nanamek?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Nanamek? Please, I'm sorry! Its just the idea isn't a comforting one and-"  
  
"yes it is. You like the idea and you know it. now go away - Jareth's quarters are in the third door to the left down two more halls like this one. Go away."  
  
"but-"  
  
"GO AWAY!!"  
  
Sarah backed away and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Nanamek," she whispered. "I just can't imagine such an idea."  
  
Then she took off at a run, as Nanamek had said, and flew full speed down two more great, lit hallways, then paused. The one she was in was much more lavish, as were the door on either end bigger and prettier. What was it Nanamek had said? Third door to the left? Sarah found the offending passageway and immediately slammed through the doors, surprised to find them unlocked, and positively shocked as to the fact the Jareth wasn't there.  
  
Briefly she wondered where he was, but then the thought of Toby brought her back to Earth, and she began scouting around the large room, hardly taking notice of it as she went through drawers, the closet, under the bed, everywhere. She let out a frustrated wail and kicked the wall as hard as she could. Toby was nowhere to be found. She check a small bathroom attached to the back of the room, then returned and checked under the bed again. Bewildered, she backed out on her stomach, twisted on the spot, and closed her eyes, leaning with her back against the great four-poster.  
  
She sighed. She would never find Toby at this rate - that thought alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes, and she sighed again.  
  
"Hold on, Toby," she said aloud. "I'm going to save you, don't worry." To Sarah, her voice sounded feeble, hopeless, lost. She sighed, and sinking her hand into the three inch thickly soft blankets, she pushed herself to her feet and gasped, almost falling down again.  
  
Jareth was there, leaning against the headboard of his bed, one leg stretched out and the other brought up to his chest, fingers curved loosely around his shin. He gave Sarah an impassive look and smirk.  
  
"I wondered when you would notice," he said smoothly. Sarah hesitated, unsure as of what to say. Finally, she decided an insult would be best - but only if she had an excuse for it.  
  
"I want Toby back - I found you - now give him back and send us home."  
  
"its not that easy."  
  
"excuse me?"  
  
"you have to send yourselves home. Understand?"  
  
"no, Jareth," Sarah snapped irritably. "I don't understand." She paused, then, "I "beg" of "thee", my "Lord"." She emphasized 'beg' 'thee' and 'lord' so that Jareth could not mistake her sarcastic tone.  
  
Jareth smirked, but only slightly, and he shifted so that he was sitting cross legged. "oh, its simple. You found me - but you must find Toby, something that I couldn't help but notice won't be too easy for you." His grin widened. "then you owe me - you have ten minutes left, but because we've already broken just about every law of the Labyrinth, I'm willing to give you as much time as you need to find your baby brother. However, the over time is how much you owe me." he paused.  
  
"oh? So, let's say it takes me three days from ten minutes from here - what, am I your slave for three days then?" she used a sarcastic tone there, but immediately choked when Jareth bobbed his head once.  
  
"you can't be serious!"  
  
"necessarily. I don't need a slave, lord knows that - I suppose that you'd just wander around or whatever you wish." He was now beaming evilly up at her, as she was standing and therefore taller at the moment. "unless, of course, you like the idea of being my slave........."  
  
"NO!"  
  
"okay then."  
  
"fine. fine! FINE!!!!!" Sarah repeated this statement a few hundred times, frustratedly burying her hands in her hair and tangling her fingers, pulling.  
  
Jareth watched her with his head slightly cocked to the side, enticing the look of curiosity, until she finally calmed down.  
  
"tell me, Jareth," said after a moment, dropping to her knees. "if I were to just wander around repaying you the time I "stole" why not just let me go home?"  
  
"because, my dear Sarah," Jareth sighed, "that is a law that I cannot break. Even if I wanted to send you home, take you there myself, it wouldn't work. Both physically - and mentally - impossible, I can assure you. When your "paying time" is up, you can go home yourself. Understand?"  
  
"yes."  
  
"good. Now, get out of my room and go find your brother." Those words said, Jareth slipped to his feet and lifted Sarah onto her feet, pushing her out the door. It slammed behind her.  
  
" 'now get out of my room and go find your brother.' " she mimicked, then stalked down the hall halfway before stopping.  
  
Jareth hadn't said anything about not getting helped, had he? No, he hadn't! and since her original thirteen hours was gone, the promises that the four had made didn't still apply, or so, in her opinion.  
  
So she turned and headed back to Nanamek's room, rapping sharply on the door. "Nanamek?" she called. "Nanamek, please, I just spoke to Jareth!"  
  
"so." Came the hoarse reply.  
  
"he said that I can repay him the time that I need to find Toby over my original time limit! So..." Sarah knew that Nanamek, as well as the others, wanted her to stay. "so I guess I'll be staying for a while." She finished lamely. "I was hoping that, if you could forgive me, if your not to tired, feeling better, that you might help me find him." There. She had said it.  
  
after no answer or sound came from the room within, Sarah sighed and started to turn away and go look for Toby on her own when there was an audible click of a lock and the handle to Nanamek's room jiggled before the door was slowly opened a crack. Nanamek slipped out, closed the door quickly with a soft click, turned, and locked it. swiftly, she pocketed the key, and she and Sarah looked each other over.  
  
Nanamek's fair hair was loose and wavy around her shoulders and face, which was obvious she had been crying. She was wearing what looked to Sarah as undergarments of the middle ages. White lace, she noticed as well with approval.  
  
Sarah knelt down and hugged the tiny girl in her arms, whispering a soft apology. There was no need for hurry - it was obvious that she was going to be staying for a while.  
  
"do you know where Toby is?"  
  
"no. but Jareth wouldn't put him anywhere where somebody or himself couldn't reach him. He's a baby - and Jareth likes kids. He's really very good with them. So Toby won't be in any position as of where he might be hurt." She chanced a small smile.  
  
"let's go get the others - there's a million billion gazillion trillion places to look, so we'd best split up!" mood obviously lifted, Nanamek began to race down the hall, and Sarah caught up and jogged along with her - she was, what, two feet tall? Nanamek, I mean. Little half Fairy-pixy ought to be two inches tall - Sarah wiped these thoughts from her mind as Nanamek banged on a door a hallway past Jareth's room. "OY! Asqueek!" she shouted. "Sarah's gonna be staying, so let's help her look for Toby! C'mon! she said she's sorry! C'mon, Asqueek, hurry up, come on!" she tugged on the locked door handle, and grumbling could be heard from inside. Nanamek sighed.  
  
"Come on out, Asqueek," Sarah called. "help us find Toby, please! I'm really sorry,"  
  
finally, Asqueek came out, wearing her same clothes as before. She too had been crying, physical appearance showed that. But she seemed somewhat pleased to know that Sarah would be staying a bit longer whether she liked it or not. "Let's go get Navaro and Squiglette!"  
  
"yeah!"  
  
"okay, you and Sarah go to the kitchens and start your search there; I'll get Navaro and Squiglette, okay?"  
  
"okay! C'mon Sarah!"  
  
Sarah let herself be dragged off by the little Goblin maiden, and was shocked (to say the least) when they went down a staircase and entered 'the kitchens'. It was bustling with cooks and maids and servants, all of whom ignored Sarah and Asqueek.  
  
Upon further exploration of the castle, Sarah found it to be the exact same as one might think out of a fairy tale; the palace with the king, queen, and prince, hustling and bustling with servant and maids and whatnot, surrounded by the just-as-busy city, the capital, in quiet lands rarely ravaged by dragons.... it seemed just like that, except for a few minor differences, as far as Sarah could see; one, there was only a king, and two, she hadn't noticed anything with dragons as of yet...  
  
So the rest of the day passed with primarily just exploring, though Sarah "thought" that the five of them were looking for Toby. Nanamek let her stay in her room for the night.  
  
The next morning, the four dragged Sarah to a breakfast in the most biggest dining hall that Sarah had ever seen, the most strangest inhabitants eating and mulling about, and the weirdest food... if it could be called "food" that is.  
  
After that, they actually looked for Toby, but to Sarah's bemusement and amazement, they found no trace of him. That night Sarah was to stay in Asqueek's room, but while Asqueek was out searching for a shirt that Sarah could wear during the night so that her clothes may be washed, Sarah stalked towards Jareth's room (which was much bigger) intending to confront him. And maybe find out where he had been all day...... and maybe see if he would give away any information as to Toby's whereabouts.  
  
She pounded on his door, deciding that if he was in he wouldn't like her to barge in and demand where he had been. Or where Toby was.  
  
However, there was no answer to her "knocking" so she went in after picking the lock (compliments to Squiglette and Navaro) and sat sullenly on the foot of his bed, arms crossed, waiting for him to return.  
  
But she positively screamed and jumped a foot in the air when a hand touched her shoulder, and she whirled around, got caught in the soft blankets, and tumbled to the floor. Unfortunately (or fortunately, it depends on your POV) she took Jareth and the blankets with her, so the three (Sarah, Jareth, and the blankets) ended up on a tangled heap on the carpeted ground.  
  
"great," Sarah muttered through her pounding temples. "now I've broken my head."  
  
Jareth snorted. Then his voice grew serious, and his movements were so quick and light that Sarah didn't notice he was "untangled" until he pulled her to her feet. "what are you doing here, Sarah?" he said, though it was phrased like a command. Sarah scowled.  
  
"if you must know, I've come for a very good reason! First of all, I've been looking all day with the four" (as Sarah now referred to them) "and we've found diddly-squat!"  
  
"it's a very big castle in a very big Labyrinth."  
  
"well I think I've figured that OUT!" Sarah said, quickly becoming frustrated. "and where have you BEEN?!? I didn't see you once, not even at breakfast or dinner! I think that a King should show up in his kingdom more often! Well? And where's the bathroom in this place!?!??" Jareth understood that she wasn't talking about his. "WELL?!?" Sarah repeated. "I haven't had a bath in a long time, and I happen to need one!"  
  
you can say that again, Jareth thought, though he personally saw her just as she was when he had first met her.  
  
Sarah continued her rantings, ignoring Jareth who was remaking his bed quietly.  
  
"and just WHAT am I going to be doing for a day with Toby when I find him, huh?? HUH?!?!?? I REFUSE to be your little "maid" and just wandering around! I'll make sure that this place suffers my presence! You should KNOW and EXPECT that from ME, buster!!! And where are your hairbrushes, eh?!? EH?!?!?!?? I NEED A HAIRBRUSH BADLY!!!! Got that? And WHERE have you BEEN?!?"  
  
your repeating yourself, Jareth thought idly, sitting down on his now made bed.  
  
"WELL?!? Answer me!" Sarah took a deep breath and massaged her temples. "I need Advil." She finally said in a pouty voice that sounded as though she'd like to burst into tears at any moment.  
  
"I hate this place. I want to go home, pop a couple of Advil, and sleep the rest of my life." She sighed. "JARETH, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?!?!? AND I NEED A HAIRBRUSH AND TOOTHBRUSH AND BATH, TOO!!!!!!!!!" She gazed haughtily at Jareth, who regarded her neutrally.  
  
"are you quite finished?"  
  
Sarah thought. "yes." She'd gotten her point across.  
  
"alright," Jareth stood. "First of all, Sarah, since when are you worried about where I am and what I do? Hmm? Last time I checked you hated my guts. As for a bathing room, there's one downstairs, ask anybody. You'll find necessary items down there." He paused. "and I, quite frankly, really don't care what you do in your free time here, Sarah." He paused again, and Sarah abruptly found her shoes very interesting.  
  
She gasped when a warm palm pressed against her forehead, pushing her head back to that she was looking up, and she closed her eyes in an effort to keep from doing something she may regret later.  
  
Slowly, she began to feel somewhat light headed and dizzy, and the ceaseless pounding in her temples stopped, and she felt a piece in her mind that she thought hadn't existed. The hand removed itself from her forehead, and she looked back at Jareth.  
  
"better?"  
  
she nodded numbly.  
  
"good."  
  
There was a pause, and after a while Jareth's eyes darted from her to the door then back again in an unmistakable gesture to leave. Sarah sniffed and left, wondering why she felt hurt from that simple flick of the eyes.  
  
Back in Asqueek's room, the little maiden had a large shirt for Sarah to sleep in, and upon question from Sarah, she led her to where she could take a (much needed) bath.  
  
*  
  
Sarah couldn't sleep.  
  
Weird, huh? She should be knocked out by now by delicious thoughts of beating Jareth into a bloody pulp and going home with Toby.  
  
But nooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo, she just HAD to remember every single word that Jareth had said to her - in the echer room, in HIS room, and she came to a rather unsettling conclusion;  
  
Jareth disliked her.  
  
Not that that was bad or anything!  
  
It was just that...........  
  
She felt a strange urge to make Jareth like her - like a friend might. Or maybe not a friend.....  
  
Sarah settled on her stomach and punished herself for thinking such thoughts by attempting to suffocate herself.  
  
However, five minutes later, she was still alive, so she rolled over and glanced to the other side of the bed. Asqueek was on her back spread eagle, snoring at her loudest. Sarah smiled - Asqueek was too innocent for her own good.  
  
She sighed and somehow managed to fall asleep. Good girl, Sarah!  
  
But, of course, she woke up in the middle of the night (or morning - thirteen hours? Sheesh.) with a totally parched throat and mouth. With a ragged sigh, she pushed herself up and poked her head out of the room - she didn't want to be caught in just a thigh length white (see-through) T- shirt. Or, really it was more of a tunic, really.  
  
Once she was satisfied that the hall was silent and empty, she slipped out, leaving Asqueek's door cracked so that she wouldn't get lost on her way back - by now Sarah had memorized her way to the kitchens. Which was where she was heading for some water, of course.  
  
Her trip was uneventful, and quiet except for the slight pat patting of her bare feet on the marble floor. It was silent on the carpeted floors.  
  
After her (lack of) eight cups of water, she turned and headed back to Asqueek's room.  
  
However, got sidetracked.  
  
She was passing by Jareth's Hall (how she had come to know this hall as "Jareth's Hall" she had No Clue) when a soft breeze wafted about her from a window, where moonlight spilled roundedly.  
  
Curious, and comforted by the wind, Sarah stepped over and threw her entire front torso out, gasping in slight surprise and awe. At night, under a bright, round, glowing moon, the whole of the Underground was illuminated and shone beautifully.  
  
It seemed more than enough to simply stand there and enjoy its breathtaking sight, the alluring look seeming to put her in a trance, the warm zephyr angelicly waving Sarah's flyaway hair in its wake.  
  
She didn't know how long she stood there. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, nights, weeks, years.......... everything seemed to just freeze, or flow into itself, so::::: of course Sarah didn't notice the presence beside her until it rested a light hand on her shoulder.  
  
Sarah jumped, and jerked away from the window with a surprised yet strangely silent shout. She relaxed a little (though she didn't know why) when she saw it was Jareth, and breathed out slowly, returning her gaze to beyond the window.  
  
"Beautiful, isn't it."  
  
"yes," Sarah agreed quietly, then cocked an eye slightly at Jareth, who still rested his hand on her shoulder lightly. "its hard to believe that it's the same as the busy and flyaway city in the day. Tell me, Jareth, do you stand by windows at night with your hands on young girls' shoulders often?" it was an innocent question enough, and Jareth smilled, letting his hand drop smoothly, fingers gently brushing Sarah's side and hand.  
  
"no, not really. When I can't sleep I usually go out there," he gestured, almost inaudibly he was so silent, to the lands beyond the city. "flying, is more like it. those lands are dangerous - though they are strangely alluring, aren't they."  
  
This guy has a talent of asking questions as statements, Sarah thought, running her eyes along his arm to his shoulders, face, then downwards before coming back up again to meet his darkened eyes.  
  
His arm had dropped, and he had been regarding her in the same manner.  
  
It was *then* that Sarah realized something and went a bright shade of red: 1, she was wearing just that *upper* thigh length T-shirt (which suddenly felt a bit see through and tight), and 2, Jareth was only wearing some loose-fitting pants, belted with a soft-looking leather belt. That was it.  
  
He grinned at her innocently, and Sarah's look of embarrassment swiftly turned to one of annoyance.  
  
"and just *what* is so funny?" she asked solemnly. Quietly, of course - no need to wake the locals.  
  
"that look on your face - you mortals, you really are a modest folk, no?" he laughed lightly. Sarah flushed. "and easy to embarrass," Jareth concluded vaguely. "Humans - I'll never understand you."  
  
"hey, wait a minute, aren't you Human?" Sarah asked suspiciously. He certainly looked human enough - but there, see? He had just referred to her as mortal and human (and modest and easy to embarrass).  
  
"I have some human blood," Jareth said, a somewhat thoughtful look crossing his face. "I've never been interested in my heritage, parents, or family. But I'm not completely human, no." he decided at last. Sarah stared at him blankly.  
  
"so, then, what are you?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't care."  
  
"why not?" Sarah persisted earnestly. "EVERYBODY should be curious about their family and heritage - and if their human or not especially! Haven't you even made a guess? Dwelled on it at *all*?" She was somewhat appalled that somebody could be so bull-headed when it came to their family.  
  
"I used to dwell on it, for a while," Jareth admitted airily. "but knowing my bloodline isn't going to help me with anything current or soon-to-be current. Besides, I'm alive and healthy. Why should I care about my so- called family?"  
  
"because," Sarah said, reaching out and taking his hand, "its not right that one doesn't know one's family. Not right."  
  
Jareth sighed, "No, Sarah. I'm actually surprised one of the kids didn't tell you about it - my parents, I mean."  
  
Oh. Nanamek HAD mentioned something about that - or Asqueek had. One of the two. "well," Sarah stated. "something about seducing and fairies........." she trailed off and Jareth sighed. Again.  
  
"aye, my mother was a half Fairy and my father was a "seducer" as you put it. never knew them - don't want to know them."  
  
"but you should! Geeze, your mother didn't hold you enough when you were little!" oh, the irony and idiocy of the situation and Sarah just had to say *that* of all things! She swallowed and blushed.  
  
But Jareth said nothing in return, just turned her hand in both of his and opened her palm. He traced for a moment the braided ring that Navaro had given her, then ran an index finger along the lines on her palm, making Sarah involuntarily shiver.  
  
But if Jareth saw this, he didn't make any sign to show that he had.  
  
He continued to outline her palm, then gently brought her hand to his face and kissed the tip of her middle finger. Then her dropped it and walked by with a soft, "sleep well, Sarah."  
  
However, Sarah didn't sleep. In fact, she didn't even move.  
  
She stared openly at her hand for a while, then snapped out of her reverie. 'just what was THAT supposed to mean??' She thought wildly, then turned and set out at a brisk (yet quiet) pace to Jareth's room.  
  
And she would have made it, too, if Asqueek hadn't appeared looking for her.  
  
'tomorrow,' Sarah thought. 'I'll have to find out tomorrow, after I find Toby.' She sighed. 


	4. in a bed together?

A/N: okay, plot change! I was originally going to have our four little heroes get Jareth and Sarah together in the Escher Room, and have the story revolve around them. But NOW I'm going to make this slight plot change - everything is going to be third person POV, and I suppose that it might get a little dark from here on in. sorry. THANK YOU, WHOEVER YOU ARE READING THIS!!!!!! :D okay, new summery - the rest was something like a Prologue of sorts. ::Ahem:: Sarah is allowed to go over her time of thirteen hours to find Toby, but once she finds him the time she "Stole" will have to be paid back. MAJORO S/J!!!!!!!  
  
Disclaimer: heheh, if I owned Labyrinth then the movie would be rated PG- 13 or higher for my own reasons. *evil chuckle* no, sorry, sorry. ::clears throat:: Labyrinth and all of its contents belong to an old dead guy whom I still worship. I ONLY own Asqueek, Squiglette, Navaro, and Nanamek, and the story plot.  
  
Chapter Started: 4/4/03 Chapter Finished: 4/5/03  
  
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third person POV, Sarah  
  
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another complete day of looking for Toby, gone. Not even a trace! They'd gone out into the city (and Navaro's parents had fed them an absolutely lovely lunch), and even went a little ways into the Labyrinth. Nothing. Frustrated, Sarah now searched the castle hundreds of times in places she'd already searched before. Where was Toby? Where had Jareth hidden Toby?  
  
She skipped over dinner and continued looking, now finding stairways that she'd never seen before, only to have them end in a dead end; doors that led into nothing and brick walls. Now she was in Squiglette's room to sleep, in her little see-through thigh-length too-tight T-shirt, pacing around, listening to his snores, thinking. Where would Jareth put Toby? Someplace where he could take care of him.... his room would be my first guess, Sarah thought, but I already looked there.  
  
Or maybe....  
  
Did Jareth put Toby in a different place during the day? Or take him with him? Did that mean that Toby might be in Jareth's room during the nights?  
  
It was worth a shot. Besides, Sarah wouldn't be able to sleep with the little Human-turned-Goblin's snores every waking and sleeping moment.  
  
I owe two days now, she mused, leaving Squiglette's door cracked open to avoid getting lost.  
  
By now, she had almost memorized the way to Jareth's room, though she didn't know how or why. After a few hallways and a long (sorta) winding staircase, she was about halfway to "his majesty"s chambers.  
  
Another few minutes, and she was holding her breath, carefully pushing Jareth's door open. It closed with the softest of clicks behind her, and she froze, watching the barely moving form in the bed across the room. It hadn't woken him up.  
  
With bated breath, Sarah carefully went in search of Toby, pausing every second or so to look over at the almost prone form in the bed, listening intently to the soft breathing.  
  
Minutes passed. Nothing.  
  
Hours by now should have come and gone by, and Sarah had searched every part of the room, *every*single*part* yet Toby was so obviously not there. With a soft, frustrated sigh, Sarah stood fully from her cat-like crouch and looked to the bed. For the first time she noticed that the headboard and left side of the bed wasn't completely against the wall. It seemed wide enough..... maybe wide enough for a baby to fit....  
  
Sarah automatically went over to the bed (and Jareth), holding her breath even harder, every quiet step taking thousands of years to come and go. A small tear drop of sweat made its way down her forehead as she carefully checked behind the headboard. Nope. With a very shaky, quiet breath, Sarah bent down and looked under the bed. It was too dark to see to the wall, let alone anything against the wall.  
  
Swallowing, Sarah stood and looked over Jareth - she'd have to reach over him. But how? How could she do that with him sleeping right there, he would probably hear her heart beating thunderously (she was surprised somewhat that it hadn't woken him up already), the bed was so wide, even. What would happen should she be leaning over him, lose her balance, and fall?  
  
Sarah swallowed harder.  
  
Now or never, she thought to herself silently. She wished that she could just peer in from the foot of the bed, but a stupid big dresser was there. And she wasn't about to crawl under the bed - no way, hosé.  
  
First she as carefully as she could put her knees on the edge of the bed, pausing every nanosecond to look earnestly at the pale, peaceful, incredibly gorgeous face before somehow managing to make a sort of bridge over Jareth, suddenly and briefly wondering what would happen should he roll over.  
  
But second by second, minute by minute, Sarah managed to look (and reach) into the crack between the bed and wall.  
  
And a minute later, she was cursing herself for being so stupid. It had been too narrow to fit a baby anyway. She should have looked by sliding under his bed - it wasn't like there were Goblins under it. and now she was stuck in this little position, because Jareth had rolled over, and either way if she moved he would feel the weight she had put on the bed leave, and it would wake him up, and Sarah didn't want to think of what his reaction might be.  
  
But she couldn't stay there until he woke up! Oh lord, she could feel the heat from his breath on her knee - what would happen if he opened his eyes? Stupid too-tight upper-thigh-length see-through T-shirt! And double stupid *her* for wearing low-cut whites when she had wished Toby away! They had shrunk when washed here. If Jareth opened his eyes or rolled over in that direction any more he'd see something that Sarah wouldn't want him to see, and he'd probably fall off the bed too.  
  
No, it was better to risk his waking up as she got off - maybe she could drop down and hide under the bed, or at least be spared the shame of his seeing something he shouldn't.  
  
Stupid bra. In the wash with her other clothes.  
  
Carefully, shakily, but as quietly as she could, Sarah began to ease her way back, putting all of her weight on her knees, then trying to get to the oh-blessed carpeted floor.  
  
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on if you're a J/S fan, it wasn't as easy/hard as she had thought.  
  
Just as Sarah thought that she might be home-free, the warm, soft blankets decided right then to take advantage of her sweaty palms, and she slipped.  
  
Choking back a cry, Sarah lashed out wildly for the first thing in reach to keep herself from falling. That something happened to be Jareth's shoulder. And because he wasn't prepared (or awake for that matter) he didn't do much help in keeping her on the bed. So, of course, both of them landed in a surprised heap on the floor, tangled in the blankets.  
  
And, of course, Jareth was awake.  
  
Both he and Sarah struggled for a while, one shocked and unsure of what was going on, and the other freaked about what the first was going to think and scared. Their attempts to get free weren't successful, though, and Jareth finally managed to get in a semi-straddling position over Sarah, throwing his head back and pushing the sheet wound about it back down.  
  
It took him a second to figure out what had happened, and Sarah was getting suffocated under the wool pressing tightly against her face. Also she was somehow hoping that Jareth wouldn't figure out that he was sitting on her waist and get back in his bed and go to sleep. Then she could leave without any more incident.  
  
Of course, Jareth did just the opposite.  
  
He pushed the blankets killing Sarah back so that they were surrounded by a tightly wound, cushiony wall of covers, and he did not get off of her.  
  
Instead, he narrowed his eyes and frowned at her.  
  
"Sarah, *what* are you doing?" he hissed dangerously. Sarah swallowed and hoped and hope that he wouldn't notice what she had, or her blush.  
  
"I," she swallowed again in another pause. Her voice was strangely hoarse and quiet. She had no problem keeping her voice to a soft whisper. "I thought that Toby might be here." She said at last lamely.  
  
"in my bed?" Jareth asked skeptically. He looked rather................. angry, for lack of better word.  
  
"no, in the crack between your bed and the wall."  
  
"look, Sarah," Jareth hissed slowly. "I don't mind you looking for him - and you could have searched there by going under my bed. Its not like there are any Goblins under there," Sarah scowled "-and I can assure you that your baby brother is *not* in my room! And I'm not moving him from place to place - so what gave you the idea to lean over me?"  
  
"I wasn't thinking at the time," Sarah snapped back. She was still unable to raise her voice above a hoarse whisper. Her heart was still pounding - as a matter of fact, so was her head; she had hit it when they had fallen.  
  
"explain." Jareth ordered in a somewhat harsh whisper.  
  
Sarah furrowed her brow and took a deep breath, letting it out shakily. "I slipped and grabbed the first thing I could to keep me from falling." That reminded her, "-your too light. We wouldn't be *in* this position if you weighed more! Get off!"  
  
"Sarah," Jareth whispered. Sarah froze, but when he didn't say anything more for a while she made a daring move and pushed against his chest with both hands. "get off!" she hissed.  
  
Jareth caught both of her wrists in one of his palms, and she froze. For the moment that they were held there she could feel his racing heart, but he held them over her head swiftly a moment later and leaned over her.  
  
"why do you insist on bothering me?" he whispered softly into her ear, making her shiver.  
  
" I warned you, didn't I?" she asked softly.  
  
"you, Sarah," his voice took on a warning tone. "would be wise to stay out of my room, at the least."  
  
"oh?" Sarah challenged, trying to ignore the position they were in and the warm breath against her neck and ear. "well I'd like to see you keep me *out*!"  
  
"if I were you, Sarah, I'd watch my mouth and leave. Go look for your brother."  
  
"no!" Sarah shocked both herself and Jareth by jerking her hands out of his grip and somehow reversing their positions. Now she was straddling his waist, holding his hands in hers tightly.  
  
Jareth's eyes grew wide when he figured out his position, and he quicky pulled the same move, though using a bit more force, and this time pinned Sarah's arms against her sides using his thighs, and holding her shoulders down.  
  
But Sarah wasn't finished quite yet. Silently thanking her gym teacher, she rocked her hips upward and hooked bother her legs around Jareth's neck, throwing him off balance.  
  
He threw his head back, loosening his grip on her, and she swiftly freed herself and grabbed the nearest sheet, which was balled up into an almost- rope-sort-of-thing.  
  
Then Sarah somehow managed to get Jareth tangled up in that and she held him still as best she could by squeezing his waist with her thighs like he had her, grasping his wrists with as much strength as she could muster.  
  
Of course all of this only made the pounding in her head increase dramatically, and she groaned softly from the pain, her grip slackening. In a flash, their positions were completely reversed.  
  
But (somehow) Jareth seemed to sense her pain, and rested a palm over her forehead like he had before. The pain and pounding ebbed away, and Sarah stopped struggling, relaxing into the carpet and blankets around them, closing her eyes and forcing herself to breathe evenly.  
  
And, though she despised herself all the way for the following, she rather enjoyed having Jareth with only those tights of his on on top of her.  
  
"you seem to have a lot of headaches." Jareth whispered softly, no hint of hostility in his voice. Sarah didn't open her eyes, "I usually get those when I hit my head or I'm really stressed. Apparently I've managed to do both at the same time." She sighed softly before opening her eyes slowly, watching Jareth closely above/upon her.  
  
"you really do seem a bit too light for somebody of your stature," she whispered at last, blushing slightly and averting her eyes.  
  
"I'm not human. My weight is fine. Though, I'd like to know why you seem so concerned."  
  
"not concerned," Sarah muttered, flushing completely now. "I just..... it was a simple statement of observation. That's all."  
  
"that's it?"  
  
"n....... yes."  
  
There was a moment of silence.  
  
"you're a heavy sleeper," Sarah said at last. "you didn't wake up when I leaned over you or anything."  
  
"I woke up when you came in, but I just figured you'd look around for Toby again and leave," Jareth admitted blandly. "I was... unsuspecting."  
  
Sarah looked up at him and furrowed her brow.  
  
They stared at each other for a while until Sarah finally snapped back to reality. One of her more idiotic plans formed swiftly in her head as she found a way to get out. Closing her eyes, Sarah counted to three, completely relaxing to put Jareth's guard down. She then snapped her eyes open, pulled the move she had so many times before, and before Jareth could react she squeezed his arms to his sides with her thighs, leaned down swiftly, and kissed him.  
  
Jareth - as she had expected - was shocked, and didn't really move when she jumped up flushed and bolted from the room, the door clicking shut behind her.  
  
Still flushed, Sarah ran non-too-quietly down the halls and stairways until she was back in Squiglette's room. Then she slammed the door shut and practically flew to the bed, which she dived under.  
  
Squiglette slept through the whole clatter.  
  
And, strangely enough, Sarah managed to fall asleep there. She silently scolded herself - 'you just HAD to get your first kiss that way, didn't you!" she thought, thumping her head against the floor. 'stupid Sarah, stupid Sarah, stupid, stupid Sarah! Now what does he think of you? How can you face him again? And even if you do find Toby soon you still have to stay here two more days anyway!' Sarah tried to calm her still thumping heart, trying to bring logic in.  
  
'it wasn't technically your first kiss since you didn't use your tongue,' she reasoned silently. 'just because it was your first lip-only kiss doesn't really make it your first kiss in general.' Her logic decided to fail her miserably right about now.  
  
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A/N: woo-hoo! Finally, I'm getting to the *real* J/S! lol, next chapter coming soon! I LOVE YOU MY ONLY REVIEWERS!!!!! *skips off happily to start next chapter* 


	5. more J x S!

A/N: alrighty! Now we're getting somewhere! So many reviews! *squeals* Ai, I love it! one of you even guessed where Jareth had Toby the whole time! *looks thoughtful* did I really hint to it that much? Oh well! Draegon- fire, if you tell anybody then you're gonna be in trouble!!! AND EVERYBODY I've got a slight rating change (I think) of J/S in this chap - but I chickened out at the last minute, so, anyway... =^_^= bad KKGirl, bad! But anyway I figured I would warn you.  
  
Disclaimer: if I owned Labyrinth then... Sarah wouldn't make it out in time! I mean, Hoggle DID mention that if she got to the center she'd "never get out again", right? *looks around* Am I right?  
  
Chapter Started: 4/5/03 Chapter Finished: 4/9/03  
  
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~*~*~  
  
third person POV, Sarah  
  
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. . .  
  
Sarah sighed and groaned when she woke up the next morning - with a bad back ache and a horrible crook in her neck.  
  
Good morning bright one, she thought sarcastically, backing out from under the bed. Seeing as the sun was only just rising, and getting back to sleep was apparently against the laws of Isaac Newton, she stretched and decided to go find her clothes, which ought to be clean by now.  
  
The castle was just beginning to buzz with life, and Sarah found herself darting behind a plant or stone column a lot to avoid the embarrassment of being caught by a servant or somebody worse. Finally, after the majority of the morning had passed, Sarah managed to get into the room where they washed clothes and such.  
  
She saw hers across the room, and lifting her chin to avoid any stares, she marched across the room and snatched her clothes down from where they were hanging. She searched for a moment for her vest, but it was apparently still being washed. With a sigh, she ducked behind a curtain and changed swiftly. A moment later, she was marching barefoot out of the room (having left her night shirt to be washed) and headed towards Squiglette's room where she would get her shoes and they would start searching. Toby could only be in a handful of places by now.  
  
After a breakfast of half-burnt toast and an hour later, the four were split up and searching again.  
  
But by lunch, they had looked in every place imaginable - Nanamek and Asqueek had handled all of the closets and cupboards in the castle, Navaro had thoroughly inspected the town, Squiglette was currently out looking for Jareth, and Sarah had been searching the ceilings for trap doors and such for the past three hours. Now they all collapsed at the Big Table in the Dining Room and Navaro, Nanamek and Asqueek were trying to force a rather nauseous feeling Sarah to eat some baked tomato. Finally she ended up swallowing a bite and only just barely keeping herself from throwing it back up again.  
  
After that they settled for just making sure she drank a few glasses of water and waiting for Squiglette.  
  
When he didn't come half an hour later, Navaro and Asqueek set off to look for him, and Sarah and Nanamek went back to conditioning the castle.  
  
By dinner, Squiglette still hadn't come back, but Asqueek had saying that Navaro was looking for him in the Labyrinth. So the four began re-searching most likely places again more thoroughly until well past nightfall, when Navaro finally returned.  
  
They waited maybe an hour more until Squiglette came back, panting hard as though he had run all day.  
  
He had followed Jareth maybe half way through the Labyrinth before the King had asked him why he was following him. Squiglette, of course, had told him the truth, and with an amused smile Jareth had let him follow him to the edge of the Labyrinthine territory before Squiglette had finally given up and come back. But he'd gotten lost in the Labyrinth for a while, so that was why it had taken him so long. He reported that Jareth had said he might be back around thirteen or one o' clock.  
  
So what did Sarah do? Waited until Navaro was with his parents in the city, Asqueek and Squiglette asleep, but Nanamek refused to leave her side. so the half Fairy-pixy followed her out to the outskirts of the Goblin City, where Sarah was planning to wait for Jareth and confront him.  
  
But after a while, even little Nanamek couldn't keep her eyes open, and Sarah assured her that she'd be back just right after her, and sent her to the castle.  
  
Fifteen minutes later it had begun to rain, and thunder and lightning crashed together as one. Sarah had no fear of either, and as far as she was concerned a little rain never hurt anybody.  
  
So she continued to pace the entrances from the Labyrinth to the Goblin City restlessly.  
  
A large clock somewhere far off struck thirteen times. Jareth would be back any minute.  
  
But he wasn't back in a minute, nor fifteen minutes, or thirty minutes. The rain continued to pour down, becoming icier and colder and harder each time it hit Sarah's head. The wind accompanying it howled angrily and made her shiver; thunder crashed; lightning flashed. Still, she stood defiantly outside, refusing to give up in her waiting game. This had gone on long enough.  
  
Finally, she thought she saw a figure on one of the paths. It was blurry and hard to see because the wind had brought some fog in, but after a bit it was unmistakably Jareth. He was leading a couple of horses by the reins, and the animals - going against everything Sarah knew about Horses - didn't seem worried or spooked at all about the storm.  
  
Blinking water out of her eyes, Sarah dashed out, slipping slightly, along the path to cut Jareth off. He wasn't wet - at least under his cloak he wasn't. the hood was pulled low over his face, so Sarah couldn't see his eyes, but a crash of lightning lit up his features that she could see for a moment and it was indeed Jareth.  
  
"Sarah, what are you doing here?!?" Jareth shouted over the storm.  
  
"attempting to drown myself!" Sarah screamed back sarcastically. And though she had yelled that loud enough to hurt her voice, it was still only barely audible above the storm. She felt cold - that one was obvious, and she was shivering, but defiantly Sarah wedged herself between Jareth and the city and attempted to scream at him to tell her where Toby was and whatnot, but just as she did this, more thunder grumbled angrily and her voice was lost to it.  
  
Jareth grabbed her and took off his cloak, forcing her to put it on. He then set her on one of the horses and told her to sit still and he'd talk to her in the castle.  
  
Sarah didn't complain, strangely enough. She just shivered a little more and bit her lips to keep her teeth from chattering, unable to stop the shivers that now wracked her body mercilessly as Jareth led the horses at a quick paced jog.  
  
Great, she thought. Now your going to catch a cold and you might as well say bye-bye to Toby for good. Stupid Sarah, she grumbled.  
  
Jareth took the horses to a pert of the castle she, amazingly enough, hadn't been to before. She was quick to mark its place with her eyes to that she and the others could search it out in the morning.  
  
It turned out to be a sort of stables, and Jareth led her around the castle and to the main entrance after putting the horses in. once inside, he spun Sarah so that she was facing him with his hands on her shoulders and hissed dangerously, "are you *trying* to catch your death?"  
  
Sarah was somewhat shocked at his tone, but with a spark of courage she threw off the cloak and said haughtily, "well excuse me Mr. I'm-going-to- lead-a-couple-of-horses-out-in-this-wheather-and-not-tell-anyone-about-it! I think that I deserve the right to ask you the same thing!" she said this through clenched teeth to keep them from chattering; the last thing that she needed was to be seen as weak in Jareth's eyes.  
  
But despite how much she steeled herself or switched positions as an excuse, she couldn't stop the shivers. In slight shame, she averted her gaze from Jareth.  
  
"Your majesty!" cried a voice, making them both jump. It was the cook, waving a spatula around. "My Lord, are you *trying* to catch your death?!?"  
  
Sarah smirked at him and he scowled in return.  
  
"no, I'm not." He replied. "what are you doing here?"  
  
"me?" asked the cook - a kind old lady. She was an elf, or a half elf, or an elf-fairy, or something like that. Plump and good-natured, with a little more than just a paternal instinct to all others younger than her. "I was coming to collect some rain! But really - the two of you look like drowned rats! And - dear Sarah! Your shiverin'! Both of your guys' lips are turnin' blue! Really!" she placed her hands on her hips.  
  
"well? Have the two of you got an explanation? It had better be good!"  
  
Sarah sneezed as Jareth said something about morons and horses.  
  
"ha! I consider that a very lame excuse, if you don't mind me sayin' so Yur Majesty! Now will the two of you go get changed and take a warm bath! GET! I'll have some nice soup ready in five minutes flat!"  
  
she pushed Jareth and (a still shivering) Sarah through the halls, complaining loudly about how the servants had just cleaned that morning and that youth these days were becoming stupider and stupider by the minute.  
  
After locking Jareth and Sarah in the bathing rooms, she scampered off.  
  
Of course neither Sarah nor Jareth were about to get undressed let alone take a bath in front of the other, so when the elf/fairy/human came back, both were now shivering and standing in the same places that she had left them.  
  
Now this didn't make the old cook very happy, and she force-fed BOTH of them (including Jareth) the soup she had brought and then threatened to undress and bathe them herself if they didn't do it on their own.  
  
Jareth found himself wondering how and why he had come to hire this old crackpot.  
  
Sarah was more focused on keeping herself from shivering or chattering her teeth.  
  
A minute passed.  
  
"all right!" cried the motherly cook. "I warned you!" and with those words (my death sentence, Sarah moaned to herself) she slammed the bathing room door shut, locked it, and advanced towards Sarah.  
  
"eep!" Sarah wailed, and started to dart out of her way, but the shorter and older woman was a *lot* stronger than she appeared to be.  
  
Ten minutes later she had left (locking the door) to wash Sarah and Jareth's clothes while the two of them sunk eye level into the water on either ends of the tub (okay, ever seen Tenchi Muyo? Like *that* big bath tub!) blushing furiously.  
  
Finally, Jareth decided it'd be best done and over with, so he muttered a soft curse upon all cooks everywhere and ducked under the water, scrubbing lightly at his head to make sure that it was thoroughly wet, then resurfaced and grabbed the nearest soap bottle.  
  
Sarah ducked under water too, blushing even harder then before now and avoiding any contact with Jareth at all, whether it be verbal, physical or in sight.  
  
After a little while, Sarah came to the same conclusion Jareth had, and turning her back to him (all of this for the sake of modesty!) she grabbed the nearest shampoo and soap.  
  
Both were clean and rinsed within fifteen minutes, and sat in the same positions they had started in until the cook woman came back with a pair of baggy pants for Jareth and the too-tight see-through upper-thigh-length white-colored T-shirt for Sarah that seemed as though it had shrunk in the wash.  
  
This time the paternally-demented cook had figured out what the words 'modesty' and 'embarrassment' meant, so hung up a few towels between Sarah and Jareth, and made sure that they were drying themselves before leaving with a self-satisfied nod. This time she didn't lock the door.  
  
Both Sarah and Jareth cursed her motherly instincts to no end.  
  
A moment passed.  
  
Finally, Jareth sighed and headed towards the door, throwing a casual glance over his shoulder and quickly looking away again hiding a smile. Had that cook gotten a twelve year old's shirt for Sarah on purpose?  
  
Sarah saw, however, Jareth tell-tale smirk and totally flared up.  
  
"JARETH!!!" She shot after him. Which is running rather fast - you know? Ever run by a swimming pool? So of course she slipped (how could my feet betray me???!? Sarah thought wildly) and slid.... into guess who.  
  
Jareth didn't exactly *expect* Sarah to come crashing into him, so the two of them went down together on the hard floor.  
  
"I think I broke my head," Sarah groaned. Then she realized what position they were in, and memories of the night before made her go three shades of red, at least, and start to squirm (being partly under Jareth).  
  
Jareth, amazingly enough, got up with a sigh and pulled her to her feet. Sarah promptly went an even brighter shade of red and shot out of room and down the hall. Jareth watched her go with an amused smile and silently counted to ten before he followed her at a slight jog. So sue him - do you know what she was wearing?!?!?  
  
Sarah, meanwhile, was already halfway across the castle when she finally slowed down breathing heavily and remembered the stables. "Toby," she murmured. "That's probably where Toby is - why didn't The Four search there? If they had, wouldn't they say anything?"  
  
She frowned and glanced about, trying to access where she was. Eventually she found a window and managed to figure out that she was on the south side of the castle. Bearing this in mind, Sarah started down a flight of stairs and after a little while (an hour, maybe) she found the doors. She managed to push one open, and gasped when it almost closed on her. She grabbed Jareth's cloak, which was hung neatly up on one of the doors. "I am SO going to catch cold from this," she muttered, and took off into the howling wind and rain, and now a thick fog surrounded everything.  
  
Not to mention that she was wearing a too-tight see-through upper-thigh- length white-colored T-shirt under a heavy cloak thing. All the way she berated herself - but despite her already-numb finger and feet, the thought of Toby pushed her on, and she managed to fight her way to the stables. The two horses where there, one sleeping. The other, a small mare Sarah guessed, looked up at her and snorted.  
  
Sarah wasted no time in looking for Toby. An hour passed; two. He wasn't there. Frustrated and tired, Sarah threw her head back and glared at the ceiling. "Why does everything have to happen to me?" she asked, then looked down again, gasped, and fell back.  
  
Jareth was leaning against the post of the fence holding the sleeping horse in. perfectly dry. The same pair of those baggy pants, nothing else on.  
  
Sarah, however, still slightly wet from her little bath and the rain outside, clutched the cloak to her and swallowed. She wondered for a moment if she was in trouble.  
  
"Did you find the babe?" he asked.  
  
"No. Toby isn't here."  
  
"Excellent conclusion. And, uh, may I ask just exactly *why* you decided to look here?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I mean, you just got in from that," he motioned to the door where the thunder, lightning, rain and wind could be easily heard, "-and then ran back out in it again *while* still wet in the first place. I am indeed beginning to think that you have a death-wish. The stables would still be here in the morning, and the storm would most likely have blown itself away by then."  
  
Sarah examined her toes (which she couldn't feel) silently. Of all the people in the worl who couldn't figure that out, it had to be her!!! Why does everything happen to me? she thought silently.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"well what?"  
  
Jareth sighed and walked towards her. "Are you coming?"  
  
"where?"  
  
"inside."  
  
"didn't you just say that I shouldn't go outside or something or another?"  
  
"there are easier ways to get into the castle from here, Sarah." He muttered, and turned towards one of the walls. Sarah gaped - a door!  
  
"I can't leave you here because it's not in my contract," Jareth reprimanded softly. "so if you would be so kind..." Sarah stalked past him and through the door - it led into a dark, warm hallway. The door slammed shut and the bang echoed, making Sarah jump. But then it opened again and Jareth stepped through - it slammed behind him.  
  
Sarah couldn't really see more than dim shadows, so she waited for Jareth and followed him - he seemed to have cat eyes, or something. They walked silently down the hall (except for an occasional cough or sneeze on Sarah's side) which eventually got on Jareth's nerves, and he stopped suddenly. Sarah, not expecting this, ran into him of course. By now her eyes had gotten used to the dark so she could catch the shift in shadows on his face as he turned and frowned at her.  
  
"I warned you," he said flatly, reaching towards her. Sarah yelped and stumbled backwards. She tripped on the hem of the cloak and fell backwards, probably bruising her bottom and exposing her two-year-old's T-shirt.  
  
Jareth stared down at her, and Sarah flushed. What if he could see through the dark like he did day??? She managed to curl herself into a "no-show" position.  
  
"Gods, Sarah," he said exasperatedly, crouching in front of her. He reached out and felt her temperature (what he'd been intending to do in the first place). Sarah stilled her quickening breathing slightly, feeling his unusually cold hands. "Your hands are cold," she said hoarsely.  
  
"They shouldn't be," Jareth furrowed his brow and tapped her chin up. "Humans - you're so frail. I'd be dead if *I* got sick this easily." He stood and pulled her up, the cloak on the floor forgotten for the moment.  
  
"Come on," he sighed, and in a motion so fast it almost left Sarah dizzy, he scooped her up and took off at a jog. "You'd better not be contagious," he muttered. Sarah was, if possible by now, even redder.  
  
The tunnel eventually opened up and Jareth pushed a door open (Sarah recognized it as the door that led into nothing). He then made it down the hall at a brisk pace and eventually they made it to his room. He laid her down on the bed (more like dumped unceremoniously) and went to the bathroom place. Sarah pushed herself up and listened to him rummage around in drawers and such. Oh, so he thinks I'm just going to lay here and be good girl, does he? Sarah thought, standing up. Well, he's got another thing coming!  
  
However, before she could take another step further, Jareth appeared again with a bag filled with something. He frowned at her. "You might want to lay down, Sarah," he said.  
  
She crossed her arms (a little higher than usual) and lifted her chin defiantly. Jareth rolled his eyes and pushed her back down.  
  
"Whatever you want," he muttered, sitting next to her and taking something out of the bag. While it was open, Sarah noticed things like thermometers or things like that and numerous bottles of what seemed like medicine.  
  
"What, are you a pediatrician?" she asked skeptically.  
  
"I've got to have some knowledge of such in case a baby is hurt," he reasoned,  
  
"No kidding," Sarah said, momentarily replacing her embarrassment with feelings of impressment. "Do babies get sick a lot under your care?"  
  
"A few - like this one little girl had asthma or something like that - really. Almost lost her." He paused. "And then there's your average bumps and bruises, scrapes, you know? And a few have to have certain shots to make them immune to things before the Labyrinth can turn them into Goblins." He paused again, and touched her cheek. Sarah jumped at the unexpected contact.  
  
"It surprises me that you aren't married and don't have a child," she pointed out softly.  
  
Jareth shrugged and tipped her chin up. "Open your mouth and say 'aah'," he ordered. Sarah did as she was told. Then he let her chin go and Sarah went back to her "questioning".  
  
"Well? Haven't any fae women came begging at your door? Didn't your parents put you in an arranged marriage? I here that's what they do with royalty."  
  
"hmph," Jareth pulled out a bottle and a cotton ball. "I only want to do this once, so hold still," he told her sternly.  
  
Sarah frowned. "will it hurt?"  
  
"I imagine so - all the babies that got it screamed and cried and wailed for the longest time. But I'm not a human so *I* wouldn't know."  
  
Sarah swallowed, and in a futile attempt, she went on, "Well aren't you engaged at least? I mean, it is pretty rare that, you know, a, uh, *hypothetically* super hot guy that also happens to - hypothetically, remember??? - be the King of, oh, say, *hypothetically* the King of Goblins, err, isn't married. I mean, you ought to be being stalked!"  
  
Jareth grunted and took Sarah's nearest arm to her. He dabbed the cotton ball on her skin, leaving slightly yellow-brownish smudges. Sarah felt her heart freeze and sink into her stomach. She prayed to God that he wouldn't pull out what she thought he was next... oh god, Jareth, if you want to live to have kids or pleasure of *any* kind you had better not pull out what I think you will, she thought angrily.  
  
Jareth messed around for a second, then pulled out..........  
  
"A SHOT!!!" Sarah shrieked, and practically jumped three feet into the air. She attempted to stumble away but Jareth grabbed her wrist and she found herself back on his bed. "DON'T, PLEASE!" Sarah wailed, and immediately began sobbing and struggling with all of her might. "I don't NEED a shot, I had all of them! I did! Can't you just give me a spoonful of cold medicine????? PLEASE, Jareth, don't! I don't NEED a shot! I-"  
  
"you're repeating yourself. Besides, I already said that I only want to do this once - and injecting the medice into your bloodstream is the only way to make you immune!" Jareth set down *the device* (A/N: as I like to call it) and managed to get Sarah pinned beneath him.  
  
"Its only a shot, Sarah, why are you screaming so?" Jareth twisted her arm, and Sarah - being weakened as she was - could only whimper and cry harder. "I DON'T NEED A SHOT!" She repeated. "PLEASE, I got all my shots! Last year! I don't NEED a shot!"  
  
"would you rather I make you swallow this?!?"  
  
"yes!!!" Sarah paused for a moment and hiccuped, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "uh... what's it taste like?"  
  
"horrible, I'd guess. Look, Sarah, it'll be over in a matter of seconds! Why are you so frightened of a needle?"  
  
"Frightened OF A NEEDLE?!?!?!?!?" Sarah shrieked, twisting slightly so that she could stare at him as though he was crazy. "this obviously HASN'T happened to YOU!"  
  
"because *I* Don't need it!" Jareth shot back.  
  
"would the medicine hurt you?"  
  
"no."  
  
"then YOU take it!"  
  
"what?" now it was Jareth's turn to stare incredulously at Sarah. "Why would *I* want or even need to take this? My body is alreadyimmune to such viruses!"  
  
"if you take the shot then I will too," Sarah promised. Jareth shrugged.  
  
"Oh, okay then. That's your promise." And with that he took The Device (as now Sarah liked to call it) and inserted it into his arm.  
  
Sarah positively screamed and froze with horror, shutting her eyes tight. Jareth stared at her beneath him with a slightly raised eyebrow, and he wiped the small specks of blood that dotted his skin and prepared another shot. After a moment, Sarah ran out of breath and just lay there beneath him crying and staring in horror at the blankets pushing into her face.  
  
"I am alive, you know, Sarah," he pointed out. Sarah looked up at him (twisting her head the other way this time at an unnatural angle) and made a tiny noise at him.  
  
So while Jareth held her gaze, he swiftly grabbed her arm and before she could react, The Device was pinching her arm.  
  
Sarah screamed Bloody Murder.  
  
And in the process of doing so, of course, she woke the entire castle up and half the City.  
  
Luckily, 98% rolled over and went back to sleep after putting some earplugs in. Nanamek, Asqueek, and Squiglette didn't, however, and they all thought of the same things at once - was Sarah being tortured to death???  
  
Navaro thought the same thing, and was halfway out the door headed towards the castle when his mother grabbed him by the ear and dragged him yelling back.  
  
By now, Jareth had everything cleaned and put back, and Sarah's arm bandaged up, and Sarah had noticed (and stopped screaming) that The Device was no longer torturing her, and immediately began struggling. Her sobs and death threats were still as loud as ever, but not as loud as her beforehand scream. Jareth grunted when she managed to get a leg hooked around his neck, and for a moment he flailed his arms, knocking the "medicine bag" to the floor between the crack of the bed and the wall.  
  
A second later, Sarah had him pinned down with a new strength and adrenaline pumping through her, and she wrapped her hands around his neck and started screaming things like "I OUTTA CUT YOUR THING OFF AND BAKE IT IN A PIE AND FEED IT TO MY DENTIST, AND WHEN SHE SAYS 'MM, THIS IS GOOD, WHAT'S YOUR SECRET INGERDIATN?' I'M GOING TO SAY 'GOBLIN GUTS'!" and "YOU'LL REGRET EVER HAVING PRACTICED MEDICINRY WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" and "STUPIDE PETIT LE CHAT FEMELLE!!!!" she wasn't squeezing, though, so Jareth easily got her pinned under him again, and was struck with the most *strangest* feeling of déjà-vu.  
  
It was at this moment that Sarah had run out of threats (in both French and English) and now was *forced* to simply accept sobbing even harder and letting out the occasional scream (her throat was very, extremely sore), the door burst open and Nanamek, Asqueek, and a half-asleep Squiglette barged in.  
  
You can imagine, I'm sure, what the scene that greeted them registered in their logical little noodles, and their jaws dropped. All except Squiglette's, of course, who was leaning against the door attempting to keep his eyes open. So what if Sarah was screaming? She'd fall asleep eventually.  
  
Asqueek and Nanamek, however,, had much more serious thought weighed on their hands. Finally, after a moment of silence (Sarah had stopped screaming and such, completely water-logged by now). Both Sarah and Jareth knew what The children must be thinking. The four (and ½) stared at each other in a frozen silence, and Jareth quickly let go of Sarah's shoulders. "What are you doing here?" he asked after another moment of groping for words.  
  
More silence. "We heard Sarah scream," Asqueek finally started hoarsely. "we thought that she might be in trouble..."  
  
"KING JARETH HOW COULD YOU?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???" Nanamek howled, jerking Squiglette back to cruel reality. He took in the scene with now-awake eyes and clapped his hands to his mouth in an attempt to hide a gasp.  
  
"YOU, YOU, YOU," Nanamek went on, searching for something else to say. She was at a rather loss as to what should happen next.  
  
There was more silence.  
  
"nothing... happened," Sarah said softly in her own hoarse voice. She reprimanded herself silently for screaming so much.  
  
"Then why," Nanamek took a deep shuddering breath. "then why is Lord Jareth on top of you holding you down - and you're crying. Why?" her voice began to near a whisper, and her eyes flicked from Sarah to Jareth back to Sarah again.  
  
Jareth felt a slight wave of guilt.  
  
"i... did something stupid," Sarah said quietly. "and Jareth had to give me a shot for it - The Device startled me a little, that's all. I'm fine, really." Sarah assured, uncontiously sniffing. "go back to bed - we'll manage." She looked to Jareth for support.  
  
"uh, yeah," He said. "Sarah's afraid of needles, it seems. Apparently the thought of a shot scared her - that's all. Go ahead to bed, we'll take care of everything."  
  
"I'm, in Nanamek's room tonight, right?" Sarah put in helpfully.  
  
"yeah, "Nanamek said softly. If Sarah was reassuring her... then everything must be alright, right? "I'll wait for you," she concluded just as quietly, and tugged Asqueek's sleeve. Sarah would have a lot of explaining to do. On their way out, Asqueek tripped over Squiglette, who had fainted.  
  
The two girls dragged him out and back to Nanamek's room, shutting Jareth's door behind them and locking it. the three of them went and waited patiently for Sarah.  
  
Meanwhile, Jareth and Sarah both let out a sigh of relief. The Sarah became skeptical. "afraid of needles?" she quoted sarcastically. "since when am I, Sarah Lynn Williams, afraid of needles?"  
  
Jareth shrugged slightly and sighed, looking down at her. "well you were obviously scared of something," he breathed in conclusion, wiping away a tell-tale tear. "it couldn't have hurt that much," he went on, wiping away all signs of tears and tracing Sarah's lips. "could it? a slight pinch was all I felt."  
  
Sarah turned her face away, blushing (again). "it was just something that happened when I was a child. A... a doctor was going to give me a shot, and The Device really hadn't bothered me up until then. But it was in a hospital, and the doctor was important, and just as he had put The Device in a nurse burst into the room and scared him. Or, he jumped. With the needle in his hand." Sarah offered a small smile. "my parents sued both of them, and I've hated shots ever since."  
  
Jareth cupped her face and turned it so he could look her in the eyes.  
  
"You know I would never hurt you, Sarah," he murmured. "never."  
  
Sarah looked up at him and searched his face. " I guess not," she murmured back. "but you stole Toby." She attempted to blink back tears but failed. "for all I know you could have killed him, or abused him - he's just a baby, Jareth! And I can't find him! I hated him before, but now, now I can't find him! He isn't in the Labyrinth! I can't find him..." she trailed off, realizing that she sounded like a raving lunatic.  
  
"I'm sorry. I just have to look harder." She closed her eyes and took a few deep, even breathes. "I was horrible to him. Its really my own fault - oh well. If I'm trapped here forever then at least my step-mother will be thrilled. She hates me - with a passion." Another deep, calming, breath.  
  
But before Sarah could say or do anything more, she felt a slight pressure against her lips.  
  
She her eyes snapped open and she gasped. Jareth took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth, and for a moment Sarah considered biting it, but decided melting right then and there would be more enjoyable, and she kissed him softly, shyly, back, lashes fluttering shut again.  
  
They stayed like that until Sarah couldn't go without breath anymore, and she reluctantly broke away, reaching up and tangling her fingers in Jareth's hair.  
  
"that," she panted, "what was that?"  
  
Jareth chuckled softly and kissed her neck.  
  
"that," he murmured between pecks, "is usually called a kiss. Though some might call it lip locking, or the act of courting, or," he was unable to finish, however, as Sarah brought her lips to his once again.  
  
"I get it," she whispered, staring at him with glazed-over eyes.  
  
He smiled slightly before their lips and tongues battled once more.  
  
Sarah felt as though she had lost track of all time and thought. Nothing else existed. Just her and Jareth.  
  
Jareth's fingers played with the buttons on the front of Sarah's shirt, and had them halfway undone when a tentative knock came at the door.  
  
"Sarah? King Jareth?" came Asqueek's voice. "Sarah? Are you coming?"  
  
Sarah groaned in frustration, arching her back slightly with an irritated sigh. "I'm fine, Asqueek. I'll be back soon, I promise. I still need a couple more shots according to his Highness here, and I'm not exactly looking forward to them."  
  
"oh." A pause, in which Jareth got the topmost buttons undone and kissed her neck, trailing his way down.  
  
"Do you want the three of us to come in and hold your hand?" the statement was said with such innocence that Sarah smiled a little, then gasped slightly and arched her back fully as Jareth's head came to the middle of her chest.  
  
"no, thank you, I'm FINE, Asqueek, I really am," Sarah paused, breathing heavily. She glared down at Jareth, who had nipped her just as she had said 'fine'.  
  
He grinned innocently back. "she'll be right out," he called, apparently satisfied with that simple statement, and went back to business.  
  
"are you sure?" came the soft, almost hopeful reply. "yess!" Sarah replied, hissing slightly. "you really should go, Asqueek. Go back to bed, we've got to look for - mmph - Toby tomorrow!" she listened intently as Asqueek's footsteps faded disappointedly away. Jareth sighed and began to button her night-bown front up again, shaking his head slightly.  
  
"don't," Sarah said weakly, somewhat put out that he hadn't even *seen* anything yet.  
  
Jareth shook his head. "Come now, Sarah. You haven't done this, it's obvious," he frowned. "this wasn't your first time... literally, though, was it? you *have* kissed somebody before, right?"  
  
"of course I have!" Sarah said, feeling herself go an even brighter shade of red. "just... just not like *that* is all." Jareth furrowed his brow. "I've got your first kiss," he stated flatly. If possible, Sarah managed to put the reddest cherry to shame.  
  
Their eyes connected, and Sarah scowled. "Oh, Jareth," she said, and brought their heads together. "that's what I want," she whispered once they had pulled away a little bit.  
  
Jareth brushed a strand of hair off of her face. Their breath mingled. "I can tell you where Toby is," he blurted out at last, rolling off of her.  
  
Sarah gaped. "what?"  
  
"I'll tell you where Toby is," Jareth repeated, averting his gaze slightly. Sarah stared incredulously. "really?"  
  
"Yes - but I warn you, Sarah, I can not and will not help you or tell you how to get there."  
  
"that's okay!" Sarah cried, snatching his hands into hers. "please, tell me! even when I find him, I still have - what? - three days? - I just want him to be safe!"  
  
"he is safe," Jareth assured her, and then sighed. "alright he's........."  
  
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A/N: hoo-yah, wanna-be-hard-core J/S here! *grins sheepishly* sometimes I wish I had enough courage to write something above the rating of pg13. Anyhoot, next chapter coming soon!!! You know, I'm thinking that this story may be a Prequel of sorts... and that the original plot I have here (Sarah "paying back" the time she "stole") will be a whole nother separate story. *furrows brow* yeah, I think it might. But I stray! aa' lle re olva ered en' lalaith! May your day be filled with happiness! 


	6. I'll Do Anything

A/N: 'allo my truly beloved readers! Uh, I have a dilemma. Well, two, actually. First, I think somebody mentioned something about a novel. ". Robert like in the novel" or something like that. I'm too lazy to check, and it might have been one of my other fics. Either way... THERE'S A NOVEL FOR LABYRINTH??!?!?!?!?!!? HOLY SH*** WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME, EH?????!?!?!?!? Okay. If somebody knows where I can find it (what it's called) I'd really appreciate it! the other dilemma is this: I used to be SO obsessed with Laby it wasn't funny. As a matter of fact, I still am - but there was a little passage of time. In this time (in which I drowned myself in LotR fics before deciding that I liked Laby AND LotR) I was reading three fics. I found one, "Innocent Intentions" but I can't find the other two. *bawls* oh gosh, what if FF.Net took them off????? But here's a summery for them: one was where Jareth has an evil twin brother. His evil twin brother molests Sarah and ends up getting her pregnant. She gets hit by a car, and is told that her daughter is dead. HOWEVER, I left it off where Sarah was giving blood to Toby and she asked the doctor "can Toby be my baby?". If any of you are aware of that one, let me know the title/author/ID number, anything!!! the other: Jareth is in the Aboveground, and is Sarah's friend's boyfriend. Her friend's name is Mary, I think - ex-friend? It's been I while. So Sarah wishes Mary away and Jareth gets pissed off and threatens her with Toby. I specifically remember the last chapter I read was called "Toby". If anybody knows where those two fics are - their ID numbers, the authors, their titles, I'll except all!!! I JUST WANT TO FINISH THEM!!!!! Thanks for actually reading this.  
  
Disclaimer: all rights of Labyrinth, characters, and the movie completely and totally in general belong to Brave Sir Henson. DIE ALL THOSE WHOM DARE DEFY THE REVEREND JIM HENSON!!!!!!!!!! Oh, by the way my wonderful reviewers, have you read the *original* script for Laby? I mean, before it was revised? Its got some perks, right? J and S about to kiss...... yup, but I kind of detest the Jareth being a brat thing. Uh, where was I? Oh, yes!  
  
Chapter Started: 4/9/03 Chapter Finished:4/19/03  
  
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Sarah's POV - well, technically its Third Person POV, but we're being Logical here.  
  
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Sarah's jaw dropped.  
  
"HE'S WHAT?!?!?!?" She cried. She couldn't believe it! that little cheater! "You little cheater!"  
  
"feel free to call me what you want," Jareth replied, avoiding her eyes.  
  
Sarah made good use of his offer.  
  
"Cochon dégoûtant!" she shouted haughtily.  
  
Of course, an hour later in Asqueek's room (which she had torn apart in her anger) Sarah regretted saying that and storming out. Jareth wasn't a filthy pig - he was a real sweet guy.  
  
Not.  
  
"HOW could he TRICK me like that?!?!?" she thundered at The Four, who were standing in line, staring at her with wide terrified eyes. "HOW?!?!? HOW, GODAMMIT!!??!?!?!??"  
  
"I don't know," Squiglette replied in a high pitched voice much quieter then usual.  
  
"Home! HOME!" Sarah shrieked. Then, as an afterthought, "HE'S AT MY FREAKIN' HOME!!! NOT HERE! HOME! NOT HERE! HOME! NOT HERE! HOME!!!" She repeated this a few times.  
  
Finally, she calmed down a little and sighed.  
  
Then she promptly fell backwards, asleep or unconscious or something. They ended up covering her with a blanket and creeping out of the room, fearful for waking her up.  
  
*  
  
She woke up a little past lunch time. Sarah owed four days now - and maybe more, she thought to herself after realizing that getting to the Aboveground wasn't going to be that easy.  
  
"It's not fair!" she shouted to no one in particular. After steaming for a moment, Sarah's logical side took over. Jareth had told her where Toby was - that was a point chalked up on his side, at least.  
  
Sarah 0, Jareth 1.  
  
But still - hadn't he said something about Toby being in the Underground specifically? She couldn't quite remember.  
  
Sarah 1, Jareth 1.  
  
"How do I get Aboveground?" Sarah wondered aloud, then thought of something. "hey! If I can get Aboveground and find Toby, who says that I'm going to come back here?"  
  
Logical point taken!  
  
Sarah 2, Jareth 1.  
  
But Sarah still didn't know how to get to the Aboveground.  
  
Sarah 1, Jareth 2.  
  
Crap. Crap mixed with rotten peaches.  
  
But that was what The Four could help her with! This in mind, Sarah scrambled about, changing clothes, then shot around in the city and castle for maybe a couple of hours or so searching for The Four. When she found them, they insisted on having a late lunch first before she started her rantings again.  
  
Then she started up.  
  
"How do I get Aboveground?" she asked in a rush.  
  
There was silence on their part. "Magic... that's the only way I know of," Navaro said at last.  
  
"Great," Sarah snapped. "Jareth you (big, loooooooooooooooooong white bleep), you cheated!" she looked at The Four. "HE CHEATED!!!"  
  
"King Jareth can only play by the rules, you know," Asqueek said timidly. Sarah was struck with a sudden feeling of guilt. Here she was, screaming herself hoarse at The Four - who were no more than children, and hadn't done anything except befriend her and help her.  
  
"I'm sorry," Sarah murmured at last. "I'm just a little stressed. How do we get a hold of magic?"  
  
"Only Jareth can use direct magic," Nanamek said. "but everybody in the Underground can use indirect magic. Its weak, and really more for luck or defense." She pointed at Sarah's finger, which still had the braided ring on it Navaro had given her. "that's a form of indirect magic. For courage and luck."  
  
There was silence. "its not very strong," Navaro admitted.  
  
"Then why don't we just follow Lord Jareth?" Squiglette suggested. "I did it before. Maybe if we can follow him, we might be able to get to the Aboveground that way."  
  
"Excellent suggestion," Sarah said glumly, "except he's already gone. We'd have to go out and try to find him - thus risk getting lost, or we'd have to wait until tomorrow." She buried her face in her hands. "I already owe almost a week, and I've been gone almost a week. My dad must be frantic."  
  
"Well, let's go find him," Asqueek said determinedly. "if he's not Aboveground then we'd still get to go all over the Underground should we find him. I'm certain that that'll annoy him - but I guess that that's what you want, huh, Sarah?"  
  
Sarah 1, Jareth 2, Nanamek 1.  
  
"Yeah," she said. "but say we don't find him?"  
  
"we come back and try again tomorrow."  
  
"and say we get lost?"  
  
The Four shrugged. "I can find my way through the Labyrinth," Navaro said. "if we got lost in there. But should we go outside Labyrinthine territory, we'd either A) have to be found by somebody in direct power, such as Jareth or another monarch, B) be killed and eaten by the beasts that live out there, or C) die of hunger and starvation." He shrugged. "it's a no-go either way, so... let's go find him!"  
  
"Yeah!" Squiglette cried, jumping to his feet. "this'll be fun! The only time I was out of Labyrinthine territory I was a baby at the council." He wrinkled his nose. "they just HAD to give me a stupid name too, just to spite me and King Jareth." He snorted to himself.  
  
"Let's go already, okay?" Nanamek said impatiently. "coming, Sarah?"  
  
"you bet," Sarah got up and followed The Four through the city and Labyrinth. They made it outside from a different door that Sarah had entered, but a door all the same. Navaro looked up and squinted at the sun. "that way is east," he said, pointing.  
  
"He'd be East, should King Jareth still be in the Labyrinth. And if he's Aboveground, we are out of luck." With that, Nanamek started at a jog into the middle of nowhere.  
  
The others shrugged and followed. Sarah stared after them. They would just waltz out into the middle of nowhere where they could easily be humiliated or worse killed? Sarah thought. They're crazy!  
  
But grudgingly, she followed at a light jog.  
  
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endless red desert and hills was all that Sarah could see all around. They had been going this way for awhile, heading to who knows where, for the past hour. Suddenly, The Four froze and looked down at the sand in front of them.  
  
"it's the edge of Labyrinthine territory. Once we step over here, Jareth can't protect us anymore," Navaro said softly. He looked back at Sarah and smiled brightly. "this is fun! C'mon you guys!" and with that, they hopped forward, running with what might be expressed as joy. Sarah was now beginning to seriously wonder about their sanity as she followed.  
  
One could tell once they were in different territory. The air seemed to crackle uncomfortably everywhere, and there was a slight sense of foreboding. However, in their wonderful bliss of ignorance and naïveté, our five heroes didn't notice the latter.  
  
However, the air did seem a bit thick...  
  
"you guys, it's getting dark," Sarah said, stopping. She was panting heavily even though they had only been walking in this... place... for a half an hour or so. "it's obvious we won't be able to find Jareth in... this... and I'd rather not get lost out here in the dark." She shivered, remembering choices A and B from Navaro's speech before they had left.  
  
"let's go, we'll follow Jareth all over Hell 'n gone tomorrow."  
  
With only a few protests, they turned and began to march back the way they had came. A breeze picked up. Sarah was now wondering how she had gotten herself into this most moronic situation - out in the middle of nowhere where it was dangerous. How incredibly stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! She was having troubly breathing. The Four seemed to be perfectly fine bundles of energy all the while, though they were consciosly aware of the growing darkness and "breeze".  
  
Or, Nanamek and Navaro were. They both glanced back at Sarah, and froze. "Sarah, are you alright?"  
  
"oh, yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a bit out of shape." She shivered a little and took off at a hurried jog. "let's hurry, okay? I don't want to miss dinner. This place freaks me out."  
  
"o... kay Sarah."  
  
They now jogged.  
  
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Sarah didn't know how long they had been out there, but it had certainly been more than an hour. She wondered when they would hit the border and be where they belonged again. Well, where The Four belonged. SHE belonged Aboveground.  
  
She glanced over her shoulder and paused, marveling at the beautiful splashes of blood-red gold that went gallivanting over the hills. Navaro noticed her, and stopped to watch appreciatively as well.  
  
Then he gasped and clapped two hands to his lips, eyes widening in surprise.  
  
"West!" he squeaked when Sarah asked what was wrong. "It's the West! The sun sets in the west!"  
  
they all stared at him. "so?"  
  
"SO," he went on, fighting the beginnings of panic. "we started going East, right? We've been headed east - when we left the Labyrinth we went directly away from it, directly east! Then we turned around! So if the sun is setting behind us, we were going west! WEST! No, this is messed up." He took a deep breath. "We were going east, and we're still going east. How did that happen?"  
  
Sarah didn't share his feelings of franticness and fear.  
  
"It's okay, Navaro," she cooed. "you simply made a mistake when we left and thought we were going east, but we were headed west. It's okay," she soothed. Navaro shook his head deftly at her.  
  
"no! the sun was a little behind us when we left! To our backs! We turned around, and it was setting behind our backs!" He insisted, fighting the hyperventilation that was coming on.  
  
"I think he's right," Nanamek said slowly, squinting around them.  
  
"we're not lost, are we?" Squiglette asked, fearfully inching towards Sarah.  
  
"no, of course not," Sarah said stubbornly. She was in denial. "there's a lot of missing logic to your point, Navaro," she went on, groping about for words. "the sun was behind us when we left, right? It should be setting behind the Labyrinth. Somehow we got turned around, and that's it. let's just go towards the sun and we'll be fine."  
  
"are you sure?"  
  
no! Sarah screamed mentally at herself. You're lost, moron! Don't give them a false sense of safety, then they'll get reckless and you'll be in for it for sure! Tell them the truth! You're lost!  
  
"I'm certain," Sarah replied with a small encouraging smile. "we'd better run if we want to make it there before dark."  
  
And so run they did.  
  
However, Sarah was quickly short of breath, quicker then usual - seeing as she was second on her track team and could hold her breath under water for almost five minutes.  
  
The sun was sinking dangerously low, and the chances of their being turned around would be heightened once it set fully. She briefly wondered if there really was horrible animals that would kill them  
  
She shivered.  
  
After a moment, she finally collapsed and sighed, breathing heavily. The Four were quick to come to her rescue, and all five of them sat and rested.  
  
"NORTH!" Navaro shrieked suddenly, watching the sun set further. "WE'RE FACING NORTH NOW!" he was trying very hard to not to panic, but he child- instincts were fast taking over.  
  
"that's okay," Sarah said, rubbing his back. "we're just sitting at an angle. The sun can't switch places, not like that." Not period.  
  
"NO!" Navaro shrieked at the top of his voice, which was unusually higher than normal. There was the sound of cracking, and the image of the sun shattered. Behind them it was, without even moving. It took Sarah a moment to figure it out.  
  
"a mirror!" she cried. "it was a mirror, a magic mirror of some sort!" she ran to the north where the sun had been a second ago, and picked up a piece of strangely cold glass. It reflected everything perfectly.  
  
She looked back at The Four, fear beginning to cloud her features. "Oh gosh," she said, "what if there's this glass stuff all over the place the entire time we've been out here? what if the sun has been "switching places" all day?"  
  
Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god.  
  
They were lost.  
  
The Four took no time in figuring this out as well, and Nanamek began to scream, "Jareth! KING JARETH, HELP US, PLEASE!"  
  
"Ssshh, Nanamek, he can't hear you unless he's here in the Underground, and he probably isn't," Navaro scowled. "you'll attracted animals!"  
  
"what kind of animals?!?" Sarah squeaked, her voice now much higher than usual. "oh, we never should have come out here!" she went on, not wanting to hear Navaro's reply.  
  
"I've only been out here a few times with my parents," Navaro said faintly. "I remember we were supposed to meet an escort halfway, but the escort was late, and it was dark," he trailed off at the memory. Never had Navaro seen his father - or mother, for that matter - use a sword. Let alone kill something with one - for his safety.  
  
"we have to get away from here," he said softly, turning wide eyes to Sarah.  
  
"okay, okay, let's not panic," Sarah said, trying to regain her composure. "We have no sense of direction - if we scream and somehow manage to break more of those mirrors..." she trailed off, suddenly understanding why the air was so stuffy. "we'll attract something, most likely. If we sit here - we can't just sit here. Isn't there anything on the other side of this desert? I mean, are there surrounding kingdoms?"  
  
"yes, of course," Navaro replied.  
  
"Four kingdoms connected," Nanamek put in , "and one really, really dangerous bad thing."  
  
Sarah furrowed her brow. "first tell me about the big bad thing, then tell me about the kingdoms and how close they are." She instructed carefully.  
  
"Well, the Underground has its dangerous points," Navaro said slowly. "Southwest there is a HUMUNGOUS drop - a cliff, you might say. It stretches thirty-five miles long and falls into nothingness. Only three have gone down into it - two disappeared, and the other almost died but we managed to save him. However, two days later he got a strangely low temperature and his body froze itself to death. West is the Labyrinth, East is the Kingdom of Fairies, North is the Land of Elves, and South there's a small empaire of bad, evil creatures. They dwell closer to the "cliff" for lack of better word, then anything."  
  
Silence on Sarah's part.  
  
"So, which kingdom is closer to us, do you think?" she asked at last.  
  
"The Labyrinth, of course," Squiglette pointed out.  
  
"The Land of Fairies is about a day or so away," Nanamek put in helpfully.  
  
"What about the Elven Realm, Navaro?" Sarah asked. Navaro shrugged. "I've only visited there a few times. I live solely in the Labyrinth. Though, if I must make an educated guess, if we knew which way to go then it would probably be perhaps eleven hours, maybe longer," he frowned, taking deep calming breathes.  
  
"I vote for the Labyrinth," Asqueek said softly.  
  
"Well," Sarah said at last. "we might as well start praying that we don't go towards the cliff or the empire of bad evil creatures. Let's just start walking in one direction, and we're bound to end up somewhere."  
  
So with a resigned sigh, the group set off with the sun to their left. Its rays were lowering slowly into the horizon, and all five were careful to notice this.  
  
After a little while longer, just as Sarah was beginning to feel short of breath once more, they heard a howl not far off.  
  
"What was that?" Sarah asked. "there can't be wolves here, can there?"  
  
"wolves? Ha! We keep wolves for pets!" Squiglette said sarcastically, latching onto Sarah's left leg in horror. Asqueek did the same to her right, and Nanamek somehow ended up half way on her back, shoulders, and head. Navaro stood by her bravely, though Sarah could see his shoulders shaking a little bit.  
  
"It sounded too big for a wolf," he said at last. For a brief moment, Sarah wondered just how good Navaro's hearing was when another howl broke out.  
  
"that was definitely bigger then a w0olf," Navaro squeaked, quaking. He reached up and grabbed Sarah's hand. "I guess that we're all just going to die out here," he said softly.  
  
"don't say that!" Sarah cried. "none of us are going to die!" the sun hasn't even set yet!" but just as the words tumbled from her lips, twisting and pulling in the air with a slightly higher pitch than usual, the sun's ray's disappeared completely and another howl, much louder and closer this time, drifted to the five of them from their right and behind.  
  
Navaro yelped something that sounded strangely like "WERWULFRUNSARAHRUN!!!!!" then dashed off in the opposite direction. "If it's a wolf don't run!" Sarah shrieked, taking off after him. "It'll only provoke it!"  
  
She barely noticed the two wailing goblins on her legs or the light weight of the young half Fairy-Pixy on her beck/shoulders/head, just kept her eyes locked on the amazingly fast form in front of her and the pounding of - paws? - behind her. More then just four paws, was what it sounded like. A hundred, maybe?  
  
She pushed herself forward when a low growl broke out so close to her left ankle that both she and Squiglette jumped, and with more adrenaline that she was certain her body could muster Sarah scooped Navaro up and ran faster then she'd ever run in her life.  
  
Unfortunately, the "werwulfrunsarahrun" was very fast also. Or one of them was.  
  
There was MORE. THAN. ONE after them.  
  
Sarah screamed, that being a mistake she didn't take note of, and felt herself beginning to slow considerably. Both Squiglette and Asqueek had snaked up her legs and were now on her hips, and Sarah supported them with her hands.  
  
It was THE most stupidest thing to come out here, Sarah thought angrily, wanting to kick herself. Gosh, we knew Jareth wasn't out here, we knew it was dangerous, and we KNEW that we'd get lost! WHY did we EVEN think about coming here?!?!??  
  
She heard a growl and a snap, accompanied by warm breath and something wet and sticky on her ankle - and a slight flash of pain, she screamed (again) and stumbled, and the thing-one of the things-circled around to her front, and she shouted as a flash of pain ripped through her shirt. She sent a kick to its head.  
  
It yelped, snarled, and started towards her again, and Sarah stumbled blindly back. Her back hit something, and there was a shattering sound, everywhere, rendering Sarah almost deaf it was so loud. Abruptly the moon was directly above her, and Sarah grabbed a random piece of "glass" or "mirror" or whatever it was and brought it down hard onto the thing's snout.  
  
Very big snout.  
  
She cut her hand too, and only briefly wondered if it was poisonous or dangerous. But whatever it was, it scared the thing off. It yelped in a voice so high that Sarah squealed, turned, and fled (albeit slower). She distantly heard the sound of shattering, and felt as though needles were raining down on her - then an amazing sensation that spoke of her flying.  
  
No, it was more the ground was jerked out from under her feet. She realized that The Four weren't on her anymore, and as though through a pillow she heard Asqueek scream. Sarah closed her eyes, swallowing. The rush of wind rippled her clothes and stung her face, and she spoke as though in a dream, "Jareth, help me, please..."  
  
Almost instantly the air turned warm, and she hit something warm and soft face-first. it hurt, and she bounced back up with a startled screech, acutely aware of a coppery-tasting liquid invading her mouth. She groaned and rolled over. The sensation of falling again, and her back hit something soft, but more hard, like a carpet over concrete. She groaned again, the air having been knocked out of her, and chanced to open her eyes. She shut them immediately from the harsh glare of the lights that she hadn't expected. Her head pounded.  
  
The buzzing in her ears ceased, and Sarah became aware of sounds around her.  
  
There were voices - she recognized one - all of them? And felt sore all over. And tired and short of breath - hardly breathing and then getting the breath knocked out of one isn't exactly the best heart and lung endurance exercise.  
  
Thump, thump, thump, went her temples.  
  
Suddenly there were hands, lifting her up, and a particular one - a cold finger caressing her cheek. Sarah forced her eyes open and squinted against the blinding light, which she realized a moment later was actually a bunch of lit torches all over the place. faces clouded her vision, and she didn't recognize any of them. Elves? Fairies? Humans?  
  
Sarah turned her head aside and saw she was back on what she had just rolled off of - a bed. Upon further inspection? Jareth's bed. Sarah coughed, and the copper-flavored crimson liquid ran down her chin.  
  
Great.  
  
She had bit her tongue, cheek, managed to split her lip, AND had yet ANOTHER major migraine! What was up with the migraines?? Did the world *personally* have something against her? What next, a black eye?  
  
.  
  
Here's what was going on that Sarah was and wasn't aware of;  
  
Jareth had just gotten back from an urgent visit to his sister in the Fairy kingdom when Navaro's parents and Asqueek's parents abushed him and demanded that he get their children back.  
  
It turned out some stupid Goblin had seen the five leave into the wild lands, and the two elves and goblins were frantic with worry. Just as Jareth was about to search for them with his magic, he heard Sarah's call and immediately found her and the other four.  
  
With a twist of his hand, they were in his rooms. Sarah and Nanamek landed on his bed. Sarah groaned and rolled off, and Nanamek had apparently passed out. He grasped Nanamek in his arms while other healers tended to Sarah. Asqueek had (unluckily or luckily?) landed in her mother's arms... and was currently being scolded and hugged and punished at the same time.  
  
Navaro had managed to twist and land on his feet. Right now his father was lecturing and punishing etc. him while his mother squeezed him close and told him that he was a very illogical Elfling and would have to be severely punished. Squiglette was caught by two healers - there was a total of five healers that he had summoned in his room, and they were the kingdom's best next to him.  
  
"King Jareth?" asked a small voice, and Jareth looked down in his arms. Nanamek's eyes were wide, and she was shaking and pale. All five had numerous cuts, and according to the chatter of the other healers, Sarah had bit her tongue and cut her lip, and she had also a deep gash on her left hand (poisoned?) and some nasty scratches on her ankle, and blood was beginning to soak not only her clothes, but his bed. She was protesting loudly that none of them hurt (they were only light) and the healers had better get their filthy paws off of her before she cut off their heads and baked them in a pie.  
  
"King Jareth?" Nanamek repeated. "I'm really, really sorry,"  
  
"not now," he said, sitting her down and checking her over for any internal injuries. Satisfied, he cleaned and bandaged a small gash on her arm and poked at a bruise forming on her upper right shoulder before standing her up on her own feet and turning towards the two healers crowded around Squiglette.  
  
"How is he?" Jareth demanded. "a few bumps and bruises, and quite a scare," one of the healers replied, an old female half elf half fairy. That hybrid mix wasn't extremely rare.  
  
"Good." Jareth noticed the Squiglette was very much awake, and inwardly groaned. If the council found out about this then he would be taken aware for sure. "I will tend to him. You two handle Lady Nanamek," he lowered his voice and spoke in a different language that only he, the healers, other nobles, and the members of the council could understand.  
  
"Ah, yes yur majesty," the second healer replied, and they scuttled off. Jareth knelt in front of his adoptive son (who he ignored more then really should, Jareth found himself admitting) and frowned to show his anger.  
  
"do you have a death wish, Squiglette?" he asked. "do you *want* the council to take you away?"  
  
"n - no King Jareth, no sir," he whispered, lowering his eyes submissively.  
  
Jareth grasped his chin and tipped it up. "look at me when I speak to you," he requested stiffly in a warning tone. Squiglette turned his gaze to that of his King and somewhat father.  
  
"Yes sir." He whispered.  
  
"I don't want to lose you," his voice became considerably lower by now. "what the hell were you thinking, going out like that? Have I not drilled you to not leave the Labyrinth without me or another powerful adult enough times?"  
  
"Yes sir," Squiglette squeaked. Jareth sighed and released his chin. "go to your quarters; I shall meet you there."  
  
"Yes sir." Squiglette repeated, turned, and fled the room.  
  
Jareth stood and looked around. "any casualties?" he asked.  
  
"some scrapes and a scare," Navaro's mother said. "nothing more."  
  
"Ditto," Asqueek's mother added. "and we can not thank you enough, My Lord."  
  
Jareth waved a hand. "please. Go ahead and take them to your rooms or homes-I must deal with these two."  
  
The two families left, throwing sympathetic glances in the direction of the struggling healers-all of whom were trying to hold Sarah down to force some medicine down her throat and examine her for internal injuries. Nanamek was asleep, now, peacefully.  
  
He sighed and mentally steeled himself for what was coming next.  
  
Then Jareth marched over to the now shouting frantically healers and a screaming and struggling Sarah, pushed two of them aside, and pushed Sarah firmly down to the bed with enough force to knock the wind out of an octopus. Sarah gasped as the familiar pounding escalated, and Jareth shook his head slightly. What was with Sarah and head pains?  
  
Taking his silent Q, the rest of the healers immediately surrounded Sarah and began checking for injuries. Besides the seen ones. When they all decided that (after much grunting from Jareth holding a still screaming/struggling Sarah down) there were no broken bones.  
  
"There are no fractures, yur majesty," one of them said. "and as far as we can tell, there ain't none internal bleedin' either."  
  
"Good," Jareth nodded.  
  
"If you'd like, we could treat her physical injuries fur ya."  
  
"Aye, might as well."  
  
The healers divided themselves-one two Sarah's head, the other to her foot, and the third to her stomach and chest. It turned out her little stomach scratch had traveled halfway up her throat. Jareth mentally swore when he realized the stains that this would leave. The rest were getting Nanamek back to her room, and making sure that she was really sleeping, not dead.  
  
Duh.  
  
"Majesty," the first healer from before said. "we can't treat her foot if she keeps kicking me in the face."  
  
Jareth gave an exasperated sigh and adjusted Sarah in a position so that he could plant a firm hand on both shins. This required a lot of reaching on his part, more (muffled by now) curses from Sarah, and the healer got the hint to hurry. He was swift to cleanse and wrap the gash, and nodded to Jareth to let her legs go.  
  
Sarah immediately began kicking again.  
  
Problems weren't over yet. Sarah refused to open her mouth and shook her head violently (seriously disorienting her as well as enlarging the pounding in her head) not allowing the said healer any access to her face in general, and though Jareth held her shoulders down, she continued to squirm desperately.  
  
"Sarah," Jareth warned seeing this, the louder: "SARAH!"  
  
she, amazingly enough, froze. And looked up at Jareth through blurred eyes. Sarah was sorely tempted to say something, and she fell into it. turning her head, Sarah spit out the mouthful of blood she had-refusing to swallow it-and coughed once or twice before looking back at Jareth. "I want Toby!" she said loudly, and winced a little afterwards. Jareth rolled his eyes.  
  
Not this again.  
  
Sarah was about to say something more, but immediately gave a pitiful excuse for a sore-throated scream when the now-two-healers at her stomach began to remove her blouse.  
  
"What are you doing?" she cried. "stop it!"  
  
the two healers looked at their King. "we can not treat her wound if we can not see it," the second pointed out. 'Twas their way of asking permission to continue. Jareth nodded.  
  
Sarah acted as though he had just signed her death sentence. "WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME?!?!?" She wailed at the top of her lungs and they managed to do two things-first, get her shirt off-well, open in the least-and second, her mouth was pried open and something was put there to keep it open.  
  
Sarah choked when some sort of burning liquid was poured down her throat, and her mouth and nose were blocked off until she swallowed by reflex. It was about then that she gave up. Why fight them? They obviously weren't going to listen to her.  
  
"Where are The Four?" she asked quietly at last as a warm wet cloth was put on her neck and dragged lightl down.  
  
"Two are with their parents, one is in his room, and the last is sleeping." Jareth replied, silently praising himself for getting Sarah to cooperate. He took his hands off of her so that the healers could have better access, and Sarah winced when a medicine of some sort was massaged onto her "scrapes" making them burn.  
  
"Why do I put up with you?" she asked after a moment, closing her eyes.  
  
Oh, hell.  
  
"I might ask *you* the same question," Jareth retorted.  
  
Sarah didn't answer, and Jareth didn't push it.  
  
When the healers had finished ("told you they were just little cuts," Sarah snarled) and left with Nanamek, Jareth took off his right handed glove and tended to her head-ache, which was actually a light concussion, he noted.  
  
"Your brain has been bruised against your skull a little," Jareth told her. "it'll be hard for a few days. Now I've got some questions; first of all, what were you *doing* going out like that?"  
  
Sarah made no move to answer, and just as Jareth was about to prod her again, she opened her eyes and said, "we were looking to follow you to the Aboveground. My *home*," she added scathingly. "why don't you just give me Toby, or take me to him? I know where he is, and I already owe you - what? Five days, now?"  
  
"Four."  
  
"whatever. Either way, if getting me to stay here and be miserable is what you want, then even with Toby I'm stuck here anyhow. If that's been your plan, then you've already achieved it."  
  
Jareth watched her for a while, saying nothing. Is that what she thought? How she was? He oft mused about this.  
  
"Jareth?" She prodded after a few minutes that seemed to stretch on forever.  
  
Jareth looked down at her and brushed a lock of hair off of her cheek.  
  
"No," he told her. "that's not what I want."  
  
"then what IS it that you want?!?" Sarah shouted, jumping to her feet. She regretted it, because the room tipped and swayed and she felt sick, but she wasn't about to let Jareth see this! "I'll give you ANYTHING, Jareth, *anything*! All I want is Toby! I just want him to be safe!"  
  
"he is safe," Jareth replied smoothly, glancing disdainfully at his stained sheets. "your parents have been taking care of him, and I don't bother to check on him because they are his parents and won't hurt him."  
  
"his parents are my dad and the witch," Sarah snapped back. "and I think that by now my dad must be worried sick about me!"  
  
"indeed, he may," Jareth said.  
  
"PLEASE Jareth! Just let me go home, let me go away from here! I promise I won't ever bother you again, I'll make sure that nobody else does, please! I'll do anything! ANYTHING! Please Jareth," she began to cry. "I'll do anything, I'll do anything..."  
  
Jareth stood and walked over to her. He knew she must be having trouble standing-he could see it the way she rocked back and forth unsteadily on her feet. Jareth gently gripped her shoulders and pushed her back to his bed, where he lay her down. She was still repeating in an almost whisper, "anything, anything..."  
  
"lesson one, Sarah," he told her softly, wiping the tears away. But they continued to fall. "never, *ever* tell somebody that you'll do anything for anything, because you won't; and then you'll be caught in a situation that you won't like."  
  
"I don't care," Sarah whispered, hiccuping a little bit and sniffing. "I know that I'll do anything. I mean *anything* Jareth, I just want out!"  
  
Jareth shook his head offhandedly. "and perhaps I accepted this offer of anything, from you, Sarah? Then what? What would you do if I told you to kill one of the four children? Or jump off a cliff, or sell yourself as a prostitute? What if I were to rape you? Or ask the babe's life in exchange for yours? Then what, Sarah? Tell me, what would you do then?"  
  
Sarah opened her tear-blurred eyes and watched Jareth closely. "you won't ask me to do any of those things," she said, managing to still the rain falling from her eyes for a moment. "but if you did, I would..." Sarah swallowed. "I would not let you hurt Toby, or his family, or mine; nor would I do anything to harm anybody else. But otherwise, I would... I *will* do anything, Jareth! What part of *anything* don't you understand?!?" she immediately began to cry again.  
  
Jareth stared at her. She *couldn't* be serious; she must have hit her head harder than he had originally thought.  
  
"Anything," Sarah stated quietly when she saw the calculating look in Jareth's eyes a moment later. "I don't care about the laws of the stupid kingdom of yours, *you* made them unless I'm mistaken! If I have to die, to be hurt physically and emotionally, to do your dirty work to get out of here, I will, Jareth! I just want to go home." She closed her eyes again. "I just want to go home." She repeated.  
  
Jareth shook his head. "even so, my dear Sarah, I can't think of anything that I would want you to do, to get you back to your home without paying back the time you stole."  
  
"PLEASE!"  
  
"I can't."  
  
Sarah was positively bawling by now. "anything! Can't you think of *ANYTHING* Jareth?!?"  
  
"no."  
  
Sarah pushed herself up. "yes you can!" she burst out. "but you're just not telling me!" she knew that she was taking a gamble with this-but she had to get out! Sarah had had enough of this place. she couldn't stand one more day now that Toby was safe, she needed *OUT*.  
  
"then what is it, if you know so much?" Jareth asked irritably. Sarah was too much of a spoiled brat, a baby, in his opinion. Why was she always like this?  
  
His question caught Sarah off guard, and she thought about it as she struggled to her feet, using Jareth as a balance. Then it hit her. Would Jareth...?  
  
No.  
  
Of course not.  
  
But... he was so illogical and unpredictable.  
  
Sarah shook her head, but softly because it made the room tip again dangerously, and she fell back on her bottom. Jareth pushed her into a laying position, both hands securely on her shoulders, but Sarah suddenly batted them away, reached up with lightning speed that was dizzying, and wrapped her fingers around the back of Jareth's head, tangling them in his hair.  
  
Then, before Jareth could react and she could change her mind, Sarah used him as an anchor to yank herself up into a semi-sitting position and their lips crashed together with bruising effects.  
  
Jareth made a sort of grunting sound in the back of his throat, this move from Sarah being unexpected, and Sarah was fighting the urge to throw up. She couldn't throw herself around like this much longer, she would bruise her brain and skull to the point of death if she did.  
  
Jareth reacted quickly. He placed both hands on Sarah's shoulders and firmly pushed her away and back to a laying down position. Sarah didn't fight him. She didn't let go, either. The result was that Jareth went down with her.  
  
He sighed a little bit, reached up, and attempted to untangle Sarah's fingers. She tightened her grip, took a few deep breathes, and forced herself to breathe through her nose in an attempt to get rid of some of the nausia. Jareth was already there.  
  
"Sarah, let go," he said. "you're going to make yourself sick if you keep pushing yourself like that-just sleep on it, your brain is hurt. Let go!"  
  
"I don't care if I've got a concussion," Sarah gasped after she was fairly certain she wouldn't throw up. "and I won't let go."  
  
Jareth sighed again. (note he did not say anything to object against Sarah's actions)  
  
"fine. Once you're asleep you'll let go."  
  
"I'm not going to sleep!"  
  
"oh, yes you are."  
  
"no I'm not!"  
  
however, Jareth grasped her eye-contact and held it. he was careful to keep his expression perfectly neutral, and slowly Sarah's grip lessened, and her eyes drifted closed. Jareth sat up and peered over the now lightly snoring Sarah-what had she been thinking, he wondered. Did she suppose that that was what he wanted in order to let her go with all of the time she stole? And just where was *he* supposed to sleep, huh?  
  
Jareth swallowed, covered Sarah with t blankets, and left, closing (and locking) his door behind him. He then set off to Squiglette's room, to have a little talk with him.  
  
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A/N: woo-hoo! 15 document pages! YEAH! *dances around* Yay! Yay! Yay! And to show my appreciation to those that are being patient and still reading this, I am going to respond individually to reviews! Besides, I've got to waste time. Uh... I mean, is getting up at five a.m. in the morning to type normal on a Saturday? *shrugs* nothing to do for a couple of hours. Might as well!  
  
Draegon-fire: lol, that's okay! I typed that out loud on purpose. :D thank you for reading this!  
  
DJinn: ooh, cheater! ^_~ I figured somebody might. Lol  
  
Queen Bonnie: I hope this chapter was more to read! :D I love cliffhangers myself... lol  
  
Solea: teeheee, I make Sarah overreact purposefully! How else would she do something so incredibly stupid, like march into danger head first knowing full well just how dangerous it was? ^_^  
  
Sabriel: YAY! A READER WHO OUTS AND ADMITS IT THAT THIS FIC IS GREAT!!!!! *pats self on back* yeah, alrighty! Go me! heh, and my pen-pal said I could never get anybody to actually say that...  
  
Heiders: Merci!!! *gobbles cookie* my favorite! I tried baking cookies and then sitting down to type/read while they was baking, but whenever I tried that somebody would freak at me. sheesh. Just because I put a metal pot in the microwave and turned it on high, they think I can't be trusted with a stove. *gives chocolate covered Goblin King* here! Glad you're actually reading this! :D :D :D  
MERCI MERCI MERCI TOUT POUR LIRE CETTE FICTION DE VENTILATEUR! !!!! VOUS ETES LE PLUS GRAND! !!!!!!  
  
^_^  
  
lol  
  
and, once again-I know I must be annoying by repeating this-but if any of ya know where any of the above mentioned fics are, please, tell me!!!!!  
  
next update soon, I promise! I'm gonna try to make it as long as this chap in the shortest time possible, I am! I'm even gonna start on it once I post this one! And it'll be more logical. I mean, I just re-read my ficcy, and I thought *what in the name of Holy Peaches were those five morons thinking, doing that?* you know? I mean, stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Je dois savoir mieux, je devrais!  
  
K, I'll go now. :D Happy Easter! 


	7. In a Bath Together! heheheh

A/N: 'Allo!  
  
Disclaimer: YES!! I OWN LABYRINTH!!!!! Err, no, wait... I'm not dead... and I'm female... *snaps fingers* foiled!  
  
Chapter Started: 3/19/03 Chapter Finished: 4/25/03  
  
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the next morning...  
  
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Sarah groaned when the shafts of sunlight penetrated her eyelids, and rolled over; burying her head in a pillow.  
  
Stupid sun.  
  
After a while, she finally pushed herself up and waited a second. Then an overwhelming sense of vertigo hit her, and unconsciously she rolled over (so that she was laying halfway over the edge of the bed) and threw up.  
  
Once that was done and taken care of, she fell back onto the pillows and groaned again, wiping her mouth.  
  
She would be royally pissed if she had to go around all day with that awful taste in her mouth.  
  
Not to mention the mess she had just made, which would have to be cleaned up. Ugh, what if Toby were to crawl in?  
  
Toby.........  
  
Sarah, once again, groaned as she remembered what had happened and where she was. "great," she muttered. "I've not only made a mess in his royal- pain-in-the-ass's room, I feel like hell, he's going to be pissed, I embarrassed myself beyond all reason last night, Dad must be worried sick about me, AND my head still hurts!" Sarah went on listing all of the troubles in her life out loud for a while, then tried to fall asleep.  
  
When this proved to be impossible, she slowly, ever so slowly, found her footing and made it across the room to the door, which she leaned heavily on.  
  
This took... maybe an hour, hour and a half.  
  
Thirty minutes later, Sarah had discovered that the door was locked, and had successfully managed to shout and beat upon it a few times without getting sick.  
  
Then she spent another thirty minutes finding her footing again, and thirty more getting back to the bed, which she collapsed on.  
  
Falling asleep wasn't so hard this time.  
  
.  
  
somebody shifted her body, and Sarah woke up a little. her head was tipped back, in somebody's hand. A warm liquid was forced in her mouth, and Sarah was still half asleep. She swallowed it and quickly fell into oblivion once more.  
  
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a splash is what semi-woke Sarah up next. there was a tingling sensation all over her body, and there was a strange humming in her ears, as though she were underwater. She tried to speak, so wake herself fully up, but that proved to be impossible. Blackness, thankful blackness.  
  
.  
  
dimly, Sarah became aware of the fact that there was a powerful burning in her head - everywhere, in her head, and her throat. The pain was so great that it woke her fully, though she did not open her eyes, and knocked her unconscious half a moment later, a small cry barely escaping her lips.  
  
.  
  
it was a dream. Sarah knew that it was a dream, somehow, in the back of her mind. She saw herself, floating naked (not literally!!) in a blackness, an oblivion. Her eyes were closed, and she was falling slowly head first. tears escaped her thick, black lashes, and they floated like crystals upwards, bouncing, sparkling...  
  
.  
  
a small splash, and a soothing voice. She tried to wake up fully, so that she could find the owner of the voice and decipher the words, but, oh god, she was so tired...  
  
.  
  
When Sarah woke up fully again, she felt *much* better. This feeling quickly dispersed, though, when she remembered what had happened and where she was.  
  
Pushing herself to her feet, Sarah waited out the usual rush of blood from the head by observing the room. His room. Whatever.  
  
Since the last time she had been awake, somebody had obviously come in and cleaned everything up. The bed, which she had been laying *in* was made - except for where she had just unmade it. the smell of blood and vomit was gone, replaced by the usual summer breeze smell, and her clothes were changed. Plus she was cleaned - Sarah prayed that *he* hadn't done that. The taste in her mouth was gone, and though there was a somewhat weakness about her, Sarah didn't collapse when she stood up completely. (she wasn't wearing her too-tight thigh-length see-through white T-shirt, she was wearing a bigger shirt that reached [barely] her knees and was a deep crimson color. The neckline dipping down on one shoulder proved its dwarfing her.)  
  
After a few jiggles, it became obvious that the door was locked, and she was stuck there.  
  
What else is knew, she thought flatly, making her way back to the bed and laying down *on* it. she waited silently for who knows how long, just staring at the ceiling or trying to sleep. Then there was the sound of a lock - a click, or a key - and the door opened.  
  
Currently, Sarah's eyes had been closed, and she kept them that way. She could hear the light footsteps nearing her after the door had clicked shut, and she could hear breathing, and felt a cool hand caress her forehead.  
  
"Glad to know you're finally awake," said an all-too-familiar voice. "I was beginning to worry the medication and magic in your body combined might have killed you."  
  
Sarah opened her eyes and took in the sight of Jareth for a moment before quickly closing them again. "Go 'way," she muttered through parched lips. Her voice cracked, and sounded as though she had not used it for a long time. Her eyes flew open again. "how long have I been out?!?" Sarah cried, looking wildly at Jareth, pushing his hand away and sitting up. "how much time to I owe???"  
  
"you owe the Labyrinth three weeks and five days, now," Jareth replied in his smoothly cool, calm, and collected voice. Sarah fell back with (yet another)groan. "great," she muttered flatly. Swiftly, she did the math in her head. Sarah knew the day of the week, Friday April the fourth, was when she wished Toby away. It was almost May first, now. Her mother's birthday. Linda Williams. The day after tomorrow. Today was the thirtieth, judging by the sun rising through the window. Sarah wondered what day it actually was in home, since a full day and night were thirteen hours in the Underground.  
  
At least Toby was safe.  
  
With that in mind, all Sarah had to worry about was her own safety.  
  
"I found Toby," she said. "I know where he is, I mean; so after today and tomorrow I get to go home." At least she was speaking rationally now. Jareth shook his head and chuckled a little bit, sitting in front of her on the edge of the bed.  
  
"You have to bring the babe to me," he said gently, "so I can remove the binding spell."  
  
"binding spell?!?" Sarah was on her feet now, and she was using every last bit of energy within her to not punch Jareth in the face. "just what do you mean by 'binding spell'???"  
  
"I mean," Jareth continued as though they had this conversation every day, "that once you enter my kingdom, an automatic binding spell is placed on you so that I can find you, should you call or I need to, and to hold you to the Labyrinth should I wish to put you Aboveground."  
  
"But that's not fair!" Sarah cried.  
  
Jareth glared at her, and with lightning speed he snatched her wrist in a strong grip and yanked her to him, standing up himself. He addressed Sarah firmly, looking her square in the eyes.  
  
"Listen to me, Sarah: you can get to the Aboveground, and I'll help you there. Because if you are bound in the Labyrinth for one month, you are bound forever. If you still haven't figured out how to bring the baby to me by then, I'll help, on your last day, in your last hour. Then you'll have to find a way back to the Labyrinth; you'll have two days to do this. If you stay in the Aboveground more than two days while still bound the Labyrinth without my consent, you will be yanked back here and trapped forever." He face loomed in front of her, and she could feel his breath every time he spoke. Suddenly, his features twisted into a smirk. "Don't defy me," he warned quietly, dangerously.  
  
Sarah swallowed as he finally let go of her wrist and stepped back. Blood rushed back into her hand, causing her fingers to tingle and spasm slightly, and she knew that bruises were forming. She didn't care. Sarah mulled over what Jareth had said to her, and just wanted to cry.  
  
In fact, she did cry, though Sarah wasn't aware of it until a choked sob escaped her lips.  
  
With more calculation, which took a while, Sarah realized that she only had today and tomorrow left to find a way to get Toby. After tomorrow, according to Jareth, in her last hour he would take her to her home. There, Sarah would have two more days to get herself and Toby back. Exactly thirty days all together, from beginning to end. One month.  
  
And she had a feeling that wishing themselves away wouldn't work.  
  
Sarah hiccoghed and buried her face in her hands, bawling at the top of her lungs. Life sucked. There! That would be Sarah's motto from now on: You're Born, Life Sucks, You Die.  
  
She didn't notice the consoling hand rubbing her back, or that she was being held delicately, or the soft voice murmuring things that she couldn't understand through her current state. All Sarah knew was that she had the rest of this day and the beginning of tomorrow to find a way to get Toby before Jareth helped; but then she'd have to get back in two days. That would be impossible! It was obvious that Sarah wouldn't find a way there on her own, so how was she supposed to get back, with Toby even? A month. Almost. There would be police, and maybe even the FBI, and her real mother. They would all want to know where she had been and everything, that was for sure. She wouldn't even get to *see* Toby her first day back. Maybe her next day, at night or in the early morning, she'd be able to sneak into Toby's room. But then what? The house would most likely be surrounded. So she wouldn't be able to leave. And even so, how would she get back? 'I wish the goblins would come and take us away right now'? don't be ridiculous. And even if she DID manage to get there and back with Toby, they'd still have to stay in the Underground for a month! Thirty days! Her family - no, Karen - would come to the conclusion that she had kidnapped Toby, and by the time they got back she'd be arrested.  
  
"There's no way!" Sarah sobbed after she had calmed enough to be coherent.  
  
"what?" Jareth asked softly, guiding her to the bed which he sat her down on. "tell me, what do you think of this situation, Sarah?" he sat next to her.  
  
"It's obvious that I'm not going to find a way to get home on my own," Sarah cried. Literally. "so you're going to have to take me there. But it's been almost a m-month now, and there'll be police, and they'll all want to know where I was! My real mother might be there! So my first day back I probably won't even get to see my own room! Maybe at night, or early the next morning. But I'd have to leave. But the house will be surrounded b-by cops, p-p-probably, and I can't get back, I know I won't be able to! And even if I DID f-find a way back in time, T-Toby and I would still have to stay f-for an-nother month! By the time we get back, everybody w-will think that I k-kidnapped Toby, and I'll be arrested!" she wailed after this, brought her legs up, and buried her face in her knees.  
  
"It can't be done!" she continued, after more crying before being hardly coherent once more. "I might as well attempt to assassinate you and hope that I'm executed quickly!" or maybe, Sarah thought. She could end it quicker, less painful on her own...  
  
as though knowing what she was thinking (but actually came to the same conclusion), Jareth stood quickly and pulled Sarah to her feet. "don't even think about it," he hissed through clenched teeth, once again holding her bruised wrist in a death-grip. He grasped her chin in the same grip and forced her head up, looking directly into his eyes. Sarah didn't care about the pain she felt at her wrist and hand, nor the biting sensation in her chin. She just. Didn't. care. It was hopeless!  
  
"None of this would be happening if," Sarah paused and hiccuped a little, thinking. If she hadn't wished Toby away? Why did she? Because he had annoyed her. Why?  
  
"None of this would be happening if that stupid "handsome young" co-star hadn't stolen my mother's heart!" Sarah finished. She had gotten the play- book 'The Labyrinth' as a gift from her mother when she was ten, when that moron had convinced her to divorce Sarah's dad and go to the other side of the world in Britain. It was all his fault! No, wait. What had he been doing in America anyway? He was British. He had been working on a movie, with Linda Williams. Because, she remembered her mother saying, the original actor for the job turned the script down.  
  
And a week later had been involved in a car crash.  
  
"It's all the stupid car crash's fault!" Sarah wailed.  
  
Jareth wondered how she had come to that conclusion. Instead he waited for her to be coherent again, then said just as firmly as his grip, "Either way, Sarah, I know what you were thinking. And if you harm yourself in any way, I'll turn Toby into a Goblin and rest assured, he won't be a happy Goblin."  
  
Sarah wailed again. Now her only chance of freedom had been taken away. Was Jareth trying to ruin her life? Too late. he already had.  
  
"I believe that you are jumping to conclusions, Sarah," Jareth continued in a more gentler, though louder, voice. "you may find a way to the Aboveground this very day, grab the baby, and come back the way you went. I'd remove the binding spell, and the boy would be sent home. You would spend yet another month, then go home too." Geeze, it was so *obvious*! Why did Sarah refuse to see her only way of getting to the Aboveground? Was it because she hadn't yet comprehended it yet?  
  
Sarah was water-logged a few minutes later. She sniffed and gave a few dry sobs before managing to calm herself. There was a way. "You're hurting me," Sarah informed Jareth softly. Startled, he let go of her wrist and face, and noted with an expression of guilt the bruises on both.  
  
Humans were so fragile.  
  
And, Jareth thought decidedly, Sarah's probably just going through one of the chemical-rush things Human girls go through every month, or whatever.  
  
This in mind, Jareth wiped the remaining tears on Sarah's face away, took off a glove, and ran his fingers over her wrist and chin. She would be a little sore, but nothing more.  
  
He put his glove back on and sat next to Sarah, giving her a soft, encouraging hug.  
  
"Jareth?" came a soft voice. he looked up at Sarah. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her face was still damp. Her hair was messed up, too, as well as her shirt that he had let her unknowingly borrow.  
  
"What?" he asked distractedly, cocking his head to the side slightly, looking at her from a different perspective. She offered him the beginnings of a ghost of a smile. "thank you."  
  
That startled him. "for what?"  
  
"For..." she shook her head a little and trailed off, shifting her gaze elsewhere. Jareth waited patiently for what seemed like forever until she swept her bright-green-eyed gaze upon him once more. "I don't understand you," she said at last. "you kidnap Toby and then hide him from me where you know I'd never guess to find him. Where I know I can't get to him. You're absolutely *awful* to me all the time, when you aren't away. And yet, sometimes you seem gentle, almost. Like a father, or a brother, or a lov... or a friend," she took a deep, shuddering breath. "what are you, Jareth?"  
  
"The King of Goblins."  
  
"No. what *are* you? Are you a strong-willed diplomatic leader who wants only the best for his kingdom? Or a cruel ruler who hates his subjects and abuses them, yet rules them? Or a scared little boy who never knew his parents and wished he had? Or an adult-like-teenager head-over-heels trying to rule and watch at the same time?" she stared hard into his eyes. "have you ever cried? Has your heart ever been broken? Have you been hit, or gotten sick, or defied? By that, I mean has anybody said 'no' to you? Were you ever truly loved? Have you *ever* showed an emotion in front of more then one other besides anger and neutrality?"  
  
Jareth stared hard back into her eyes himself, working hard to keep a neutral expression.  
  
"What are you, Jareth?" she repeated. "because I don't know."  
  
There was a long, almost uncomfortable silence. It's stillness threatened to destroy both occupants of the room.  
  
"I am what I am," Jareth finally said, standing up and turning away quickly. "because that's the way I am. Currently, I happen to be hungry. When you're ready, your clothes are at the foot of my bed, and you can leave if you wish. Find the Four, as you call them." He left, closing the door firmly behind him.  
  
Sarah felt a range of emotions invade her. what were they? Anger? Curiosity? Sadness? Angst? Determination? Fear? Guilt? She swallowed hard and stood.  
  
Jareth looked about ready to cry, she thought. That would be a sight; the Goblin King crying.  
  
She dressed swiftly and rubbed her eyes, yawning a little bit and forcing herself to think. She sniffed. Come to think of it... Sarah figured she'd be able to think better with a clean face, brushed hair, full stomach, and some different surroundings.  
  
That in mind, she opened the door, and closed it softly behind her, then made her way to the bathing house/room/whatever. Like Roman baths, she thought. Sarah smiled a little at that one.  
  
As she passed, passerby's and servants, maids, cleaners, guest, all that saw her whispered and stared. She figured it was because her features were so bedraggled and it was obvious she had been crying hard. Her constant sniffing didn't help either.  
  
After washing her face and hair, and a Jareth-less breakfast (he eats fast - like, record time, Sarah thought) Sarah marched around, looking for The Four.  
  
She found them.  
  
Navaro's parents had watched her like a hawk while she talked to him through a window. He was being punished and wasn't allowed to leave the living room unless a parent was with him to go to the bathroom. Asqueek and her parents, who lived in/by the castle (they had a house, but also had rooms in the palace), scolded Sarah to no end, and she had not been allowed to see Asqueek. Squiglette had been confined to his quarters by Jareth, and no matter what Sarah did, how she tried to convince him, he would rather not disobey the man who had adopted him. Nanamek had been laying in her bed, eyes open but distant. She had been crying, Sarah found it obvious. And she still was. Every now and then a few tears would escape her eyes. She was also incoherent. Not really, but if she spoke, it was quiet. If it was loud enough for Sarah to hear, it was either in a different language or a soft, "mommy, mommy, please mommy..." the only time she acknowledged Sarah was when she had allowed the human teenager to hold her and comfort her when she broke down into helpless sobs. After a little bit, she had told Sarah she wanted to be alone or be with her mommy.  
  
So Sarah left, and collapsed against the palace wall outside, pulling her legs up, wrapping her arms around her knees, and resting her head on them.  
  
If there was any time she needed those kids, it was now; and she couldn't have them. For a while, Sarah fought valiantly against tears, and after the battle was won, she got up and went in search for Jareth. She wanted to see if she could get Navaro, Asqueek, and Squiglette out of trouble, and find out what was wrong with Nanamek. Then The Four and her could find a way to get to the Aboveground.  
  
Amazingly enough, it wasn't hard to find Jareth. He was in his room, sitting at a desk and writing/reading a whole bunch of different things. Sarah had stood quietly in the doorway, and Jareth didn't look up at her until she closed it with the tiniest of clicks. He looked tired, Sarah noted. But his face was quickly masked with his usual Goblin-King-Mode- Face, and he stood as she neared awkwardly.  
  
"What are you doing here, Sarah?" he asked softly.  
  
"I want," Sarah took a deep breath and swallowed. Why did she always seem to be at a loss for words, or out of breath when Jareth was around? "I want to know if you can get Navaro, Asqueek, and Squiglette out of trouble, and I want to know what's wrong with Nanamek." She finished at last, slowing and quieting in her sentence as Jareth neared until he was towering above her.  
  
"Oh really?" he asked. "Alright, then. Navaro and Asqueek are their parents' responsibility, and I'm not going to step in on their relationships. I wouldn't unless it considered a war. As for Nanamek, that is strictly between herself, her mother, my sister and I. You should just leave her alone."  
  
Sarah steeled herself. "Alright, fine. I understand Navaro and Asqueek. But what about Squiglette? He is *your* child, right? And Nanamek is my friend - maybe I can help her, and I want to. But all she says is something in a different language or just 'mommy, I want my mommy' and she cries. I'm figuring that maybe you did something to her."  
  
Jareth scoffed and glared. "I would not *harm* any of them, if that is what you're thinking. Squiglette is being punished. He knows the rules and laws by heart, I raised him. Nanamek is her own business, mysister's, mine, and her mother's as I said before. Nothing of her concerns you."  
  
"Why are you punishing Squiglette? Even after all of these weeks and days?" Sarah challenged.  
  
"why were you sent to your room when you were little?" Jareth snapped back.  
  
Sarah paused. "fine. I'll worry about Squiglette later." She paused again. "and you can at least tell me what happened to Nanamek. It must have been bad, if it concerns you."  
  
Jareth made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded like a growl/scoff/snort. He turned and went back to his desk, where he sat and continued reading and writing on different papers.  
  
Sarah followed him and leaned over his shoulder. One particular paper was written in what seemed like little dots and swirls, everywhere, had captivated Jareth's attention, and she tried in vain to decipher it or make any sense. It didn't to her. But, apparently, Jareth could read the swirls and dots perfectly fine, and using a quill and a small bottle of blue ink, he put some swirls and dots right smack dab in the middle of it and blew on it until the ink was dry. Then he folded it up and set it in an envelope aside with others, and dug through the pile of papers until he had a different paper, where there was just random splotches of ink on it, front and back.  
  
Jareth glanced over both sides, and to Sarah's amazement, took a different quill with some red ink and put two splotched on it. he did the same as he had the other one, and was now once again digging through the mess of papers.  
  
"what were those?" Sarah asked. Jareth jerked slightly, startled. He scolded himself for a moment, then tipped his head back and peered closely at Sarah.  
  
"papers," he said as though talking to a very dull child.  
  
"I know that," Sarah snapped. "but the splotches and the dots and swirls were...?"  
  
"different languages."  
  
"and you can read them?"  
  
"yes."  
  
"and speak them?"  
  
"yes."  
  
Sarah stared at him. "what about the one with swirls and dots on it? can you say something in that language?"  
  
Jareth stared at Sarah. "Mani," he said.  
  
"what?"  
  
"exactly."  
  
There was a moment of silence. "was that in the dots and swirls language?"  
  
"yes."  
  
"what did you say?"  
  
"'what?'"  
  
"I said, what did you say?"  
  
"that's what I said - "what"."  
  
"Oh!"  
  
there was another moment of silence, then Jareth chuckled and looked back to his work. Sarah watched him put different colored ink on different papers of different markings. When after what seemed like forever, and the desk was almost completely just envelopes and not papers, Jareth looked at her once more.  
  
"what do you want, Sarah?"  
  
Sarah started, then scolded herself for a moment. "I want to know what's up with Nanamek. If you don't tell me, I'll spread rumors that you abused her."  
  
"you certainly will not," Jareth snapped, and stood. Sarah swallowed. "if you must know, Sarah, though it is none of your business, Nanamek's father has died, and her mother just left for the Human world the day before you and the others went out like that. I told her two days after your guys' return, and she requested to be left alone. I go to her every morning and night with food, and if she is ready to talk, she will talk. If not, I tuck her in, and leave."  
  
Sarah said nothing for a while. "so... she hasn't any family?"  
  
"That's where my sister and I come in," Jareth said, walking to his bed and sittng down heavily on it. "Nanamek either goes with her mother - and that's impossible. Her so called mother obviously wants nothing to do with her. She can go with her father - and I will not allow that to happen. She can stay with my sister, and be adopted - but my sister has no like for Nanamek. Or she can stay with me, in which I adopt her. The fourth choice has been, apparently, chosen. I've been getting those papers ever since the decision was made a week ago. I haven't really gotten to them for a while." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.  
  
"are those adoption papers?" Sarah asked quietly.  
  
"No. those are regulations, questions, treaties from the other kingdoms, and the smaller kingdoms in the kingdoms. After I take care of them, the council will meet without me and go over them - they'll be the ones to write up the adoption papers, and then both Nanamek and I will sign them with any requests we have. Then, if the council is happy, they'll sign them, and exactly a hundred witnesses from all the different kingdoms, including mine, sign it. then the council, Nanamek, and I watch the papers burn, and I am given Nanamek's birth necklace and am to make her a new one." He shook his head.  
  
"that seems overly complicated," Sarah offered.  
  
"we in the underground take children seriously," Jareth replied.  
  
"what's a birth necklace?"  
  
"it's a necklace given to the parents at the birth of their child. It has their child's name engraved on it, and they must guard it as they do their child. Many of them are different shapes and sizes, and when the child reaches his or her majority, they receive the birth necklace by right." Jareth pulled out the necklace he always seemed to wear. No, he had *two* of them, both different, though only slightly!  
  
"these are mine," Jareth explained.  
  
"why do you have two?"  
  
"remember when I just mentioned I would have to provide Nanamek with a new necklace? I've got to change her name and everything, and engrave it on the necklace."  
  
"wait a second, okay, a few things," Sarah said. "first, does this mean that you have two names? Second, does Squiglette have one of those necklace thingies? And third, what about Nanamek? Does she get a say with the future of her life and name?"  
  
Jareth looked hard at Sarah. "yes, I have two names. The one my birth parents gave me, and the one I was raised by gave me. my first name was Jareh-something. Personally, I prefer Jareth. Yes, Squiglette does have one, as I said before, I made it for him. It's in my possesion. And Nanamek does get a say in everything; this is her life we speak about. If she wants, she can keep her name 'Nanamek' with a different spelling, or a syllable elsewhere stressed, or have something completely out of there. It's her decision." Jareth massaged his temples.  
  
"I've told you too much," he said at last. "and it's getting dark. Is there anything else that you want?"  
  
Sarah sat next to him. They examined each other for a bit, and Sarah stood and left. Jareth caught the tears coursing down her cheeks, but he didn't do anything about it. after another moment, he went back to his desk.  
  
Sarah, however, took off at top speed through the hallways until she was at the bathing room. There she washed her face and cried. After she had managed to still her tears of loss once more, she headed to the dining hall to pick at some food. Finally, an elf maiden was so caught up in Sarah's dreary mood (which was catching) and jerked out of regulation to speak to her.  
  
"Excuse me, Young Miss?" she asked, offering a glass of blood-red liquid in it. "I find that, when I am sad or disappointed, drinking some of this helps."  
  
Sarah took the cup dumbly, and the maid scampered off to be reprimanded by the cook.  
  
After staring suspiciously at the contents for a bit, Sarah finally took a sip from the glass. She gasped a little as warm, tasteless liquid slipped silkily down her throat, leaving a tingling sensation in its wake that made Sarah almost shiver with pleasure. No wonder the girl felt better after a cup of this stuff! It was great!  
  
After finishing the cup in two gulps, Sarah decided that it wasn't tasteless at all, but really had more of a strong fruity taste that only could be tasted as an after-taste. Taste, taste, taste! Metal-enduced- fruits! The thought was funny, and Sarah snickered a little bit at it. the snickers turned quickly to laughs, and after she had caught her breath, Sarah jumped to her feet and headed to the kitchens, which were almost empty (those who had been in the dining hall had, shockingly enough, ignored the heck out of Sarah when she had laughed like that) and after some questions and explanations (that took longer than Sarah would have liked) she had a pitcher of the stuff, and she carried it back to her spot at the table.  
  
After the second glass, Sarah decided that pouring it into the cup and then drinking it took too much unwanted time. Gleefully lost in the wondrous feelings this drink gave her, Sarah flung the cup over her shoulder, tipped her head back, and finished what was in the pitcher in only a few, large gulps.  
  
After that was done, Sarah jumped to her feet and darted at lightning speed to the kitchens again, demanding more of the stuff.  
  
"Dearie, don't you think you're over doing it a bit?" asked the old motherly head-cook gently to a bouncing Sarah.  
  
"No, overdoing it, me? no, no, no, I don't ever do anything, I'm a GOOD girl! Good, girl, nice, girl, yes, because Sarah is a GOOD girl!" it sounded like a song, Sarah decided, bouncing in place while another cook went about filling the pitcher from a large, wooden keg. Songs! She liked songs! "Sarah is a goo-ood girrrrrrrrl," she sang without taking a breath. "goooooood girrrrrrl, yes, yes, yes!! Go Saaaaaarrrrrah, is a goooooood girl, yes, Saraaaaaaaah is a good niiiiiiiissssssssssse giiiiiiirrrrrrllllllllllllllluh! Good girl is Sarah!" she laughed madly while zipping back to her spot at the table (which only had three, four, or five occupants) with her pitcher.  
  
She downed that one in a matter of minutes, and started to jump up again, but immediately fell to the ground again and rolled over, staring at the ceiling. The last rays of the setting sun were peering through the windows and played lights across the great arched ceiling. The colors twisted and mixed, bumping into each other, and Sarah was acutely aware of every sound; every breath from every person/thing, the ruffled sound of bodies shifting in clothing, the slight clinks of forks, everything! She could identify every bird outside, and could even make out a squirrel scraping against a tree trunk. It was hilarious!  
  
Sarah tried to tell the others in the room about the colors, the sounds, the wonderful feelings inside of her, but her words escaped sluggishly, and made dull, flat notes that interrupted the symphony of.... Life. The symphony of life! That's what she'd call it.  
  
After feeling and listening and watching the sounds and colors and feelings, Sarah felt herself begin to somber up a bit. The wonderful after- taste in her mouth was becoming bitter! Grumbling a little bit, Sarah rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up with her hands.  
  
Getting up proved to be an aerobics workout. But after using various chairs, the table, and what may have been a person's leg, Sarah managed to get to her own feet, and she teetered, looking around the room as it warped and tipped before her very eyes. It was gorgeous, it really was. But the getting-more-bitter-by-the-minute taste in her mouth reminded Sarah why she was standing in the first place, and she stumbled to the kitchens. Halfway there, she fell over her own feet, and ended up dragging herself the rest of the way, giggling at the sight she must make.  
  
After a very loud verbal exchange with the head cook ("you mustn't have any more, dearie miss! You'll hurt yourself!" "GIVE ME MY METAL-ENDUCED-FRUITY- DRINK, GODAMMIT!!!") the head-cook left, muttering something, and another second-in-command cook gave Sarah another pitcher of the stuff, shaking her head disdainfully. But this pitcher was smaller! Maybe a little bigger than her head, Sarah deciphered. Not even half the size of the other previous one!  
  
But Sarah managed to drag herself and the pitcher back to her place at the table, and she fell face-first into the stuff, drinking it greedily like so. Once it was gone, she fell back, laughed for a bit, then sluggishly, slowly, made her way back to the kitchens. She had to have more! More! God, that stuff was so good. Briefly, Sarah wondered if having sex was like this drink. But any thought fled her mind when she practically smothered herself in a towel on the floor, and bumped head-first into a keg.  
  
Her metal-enduced-fruity-drink keg, Sarah realized, recognizing the smell. After some fumbling, it was falling freely from the nozzle, and after a little bit work, Sarah managed to get her mouth beneath it.  
  
She had no idea what time she finally realized that nothing more was coming out, and she collapsed to the floor in disappointment and rolled over, once again almost smothering herself in the towel. But she stopped sluggishly, slowly struggling against it as she smelled the music it created, watched whispers of air escape her lips and nose, and heard everything. *Everything* oh the beauty and irony of it all! She laughed, and, still laughing, managed to shift her body parts around.  
  
Doing this made the room and lights and sounds around her shift and change, twisting into different shapes with every blink of the eye, and Sarah had no idea how long she watched it, and laughed. Then there was the sound of wood on wood, and metal against metal, thudding in carpet and stone. She heard and saw each molecule rock against one another, and reached out to a particularly shiny one. It stung! Sarah took her palm away and stared at it.  
  
A warm something was pooled in her palm, and when she lifted her arm above her head, it flooded down her arm and dripped onto her face. Red swirls, dancing, singing to her... she laughed when it finally seemed to end (though it hadn't) and reached toward the stinging knife again, deciding that the others out there in the dining hall would deserve to see such a wonderful sight. After some tugging, and a lot of stinging, she cuddled the bright warping thing to her chest, and after a bit managed to get into the dining hall, though Sarah wasn't aware of it.  
  
She heard voices all around her, some musical, some deep, reverberating against the walls, bouncing off of the colors, and she froze, confused. After a moment that seemed to last forever Sarah decided to show them the twisting red beauty. Taking the biting knife in the other hand, Sarah rolled on her back and lifted her palm so that they could all see.  
  
The voices intensified. She took it for sounds of joy and happiness.  
  
Giggling like a madwoman now, Sarah was about to make more of the dancing art, but the knife was taken away from her, and Sarah made a strange complaining sound, that sounded like a slurred, "hhhheeeeeeeyyyyy," or "ooooowwwwwwwww" or "lllvvvlbaadaddd" all mixed into one. One voice was above all others - it was beautiful. And funny. She laughed at it, and reached up to touch the drifting shapes over her, but it caught her wrist and she was shaken abruptly.  
  
Sarah was struck with something. They didn't like her art! They hated it! they would... hurt her! They would! Sarah tried to scream and squirm away, but suddenly there was a pressure at her upper-upper back and under behind her knee caps, and the room swirled so fast that Sarah just let her head droop back and fall, hang, trying to gather herself as colors and sounds and smells and tastes washed past before she could catch them. It took Sarah maybe a minute to figure out she was being carried.  
  
She was being carried! They were going to chain her to a wall and torture her! With a strength that Sarah hadn't previously had, she lifted her head and stiffened her body, attempting to scrunch up into a ball and land in a fighting position. But her capturer didn't even pause, just tightened their grip on her. Sarah gasped, and tried to struggle, to scream for help, anything, but her body refused to obey her.  
  
CLICK! CLICK! The sound of a.. a... a lock? Maybe a whale? Was so loud that Sarah tried to cry out and clap her hands to her ears, but she could only manage a small arm spasm, and then there was a softness underneath her back. It was soft, squishy, comfortable, and Sarah freely pressed her back into it, trying in vain to tell her capturer that she felt its softness.  
  
"Don't speak." Sarah was shocked at the clarity of the words, and though somewhere in the back of her mind Sarah knew what they were, she just couldn't - just barely - couldn't understand. "wwwwwwwwaaaaaaah," she tried, but there was a pressure against her lips, and she found they wouldn't obey her! There was something holding her mouth closed! Sarah tried in vain to struggle, but something was forced into her mouth. It was bitter and disgusting, and Sarah tried everything to spit it out, but ended up swallowing the stuff anyway. Everything came into sharper focus, though her body and mind wouldn't obey her, and Jareth only vaguely recognized Jareth's face above hers. God, she wanted him.  
  
Sarah attempted to place Jareth's name, but that wouldn't work. He was disappearing! Going away! No! NO! with a burst of energy (previously unknown) Sarah's arms reached out and yanked Jareth and herself together. She could sense rather than see or feel, Jareth's breath on her cheek, and she shifted slightly, bringing their lips together.  
  
But she was pushed away and back onto the softness that she so loved. No, Sarah thought wildly. Didn't he understand how incredibly beautiful he was? How desirable? He was hers, dammit!  
  
Persistent, Sarah refused to let go. She locked her fingers in place and with yet another burst of energy, managed to push Jareth down so that he was twisted and on his back and side. in his position, he wouldn't be able to push her away! Gleefully, Sarah brought their lips together again, collapsing on top of him.  
  
But something was wrong. Jareth wasn't responding - he was struggling, more, really. Once again, Sarah had the feeling of being in the air again, the was pushed back into the softness. It was then that she realized he was talking.  
  
"- Sarah, go to sleep or I'll have to do that for you."  
  
What did those words mean? The voice was very musical, though. A male voice, musical? Sarah laughed and refusing to give up began to lift herself once more, but Jareth firmly pushed her down, nad her hands were taken from his head. "nnnnnoooo," she complained. "pleazze, Jarrr..." she was trapped! There were weights on her chest, just above her *chest* and on her stomach and over her legs. Strapped down!  
  
Her art hand was taken, and she tried to struggle, but a burning something was splashed onto it, then a cool powder rubbed it, and some sort of bandage was wrapped around it.  
  
"Can I trust you, Sarah?"  
  
Sarah made sense, though slowly, out of those words. She attempted to ask where they were, but that proved to be impossible. Jareth seemed to understand, though.  
  
"we are in my room, Sarah," Jareth said gently. "and you have just consumed enough Nifo to knock out a horse. It's usually not very strong for fey, and only improves mood for elves and fairies. But I am certain that you are the first human to ever try it"  
  
"Nifo?" she repeated dumbly.  
  
"a drink."  
  
Sarah tongue and voice were obeying her better now, and she was slightly more sombered up by now. "what was it I swallowed?"  
  
"something one uses when drunk, to get rid of slurring and dizziness, and it reestablishes the connection of the brain to the body. You have a fairly large dose, so I think that any hangover you have will be minor."  
  
"hang over? Not drunk. Poisoned."  
  
"hang over. Drunk."  
  
"drunk. Trust me."  
  
the weights were gone, and Sarah opened her eyes and examined Jareth closely now. She reached up and touched his cheek - apparently not fully un- drunk yet, though it's impossible to get "un drunk" when it comes to Humans. But then, Sarah had been there with fae so long, and had their medicine and food that she was probably more fay than human by now. Like not passing out with the first glass, like any *normal* human would. Jareth tensed when he saw the look come and go from her eyes, and Sarah buried her good hand in his hair.  
  
"you're bleeding."  
  
"that's your blood."  
  
"oh. I don't hurt."  
  
"you molested your hand."  
  
"molested." What a funny word!  
  
There was a moment of silence, and Sarah swallowed a little, her mouth tasting more and more bitter by the second. She grimaced. "kiss me, Jareth."  
  
"what?" Jareth was quick to remove her hand and stare at her as though she had just announced that he should marry a hedge gate.  
  
"Kiss me," she begged again. "please, Jareth."  
  
"why? Sarah, are you in your right mind?"  
  
no, of course she wasn't! Duh!  
  
"please," she repeated, grasping his own hand and somehow managing to sit up. "Jareth. I want you,"  
  
by now Jareth was fairly certain she had gone off her rocker. "you are drunk, Sarah, and not thinking straight," he reprimanded gently, watching her closely like a hawk.  
  
"I'm thinking fine," Sarah murmured, squeezing his hand tightly. "just once."  
  
Jareth shook his head. "Sarah," he started, but she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. It was gently, almost tentative, and he found himself responding without wanting to.  
  
.  
  
the next morning...  
  
.  
  
.  
  
Sarah groaned a little when she woke up, and had found her way to the nearest bathroom in a matter of seconds, ridding her dehydrated body of all its contents. She washed her face and mouth out, and dragged herself back to the bed (not registering 'twas Jareth's), collapsing on it.  
  
Her head hurt.  
  
She lay there for quite some time before any sort of flashback occurred. She groaned and buried her face in a pillow.  
  
"feeling better?"  
  
Sarah froze, and then slowly moved her head so that one eye could peek out between the pillow and the mess that was her hair. It was *him*. "what are you doing here?" her voice was slow, and her mouth was incredibly dry.  
  
"I'm supposed to be sleeping here," Jareth replied with a slight roll to the eyes. "but for some reason I haven't been able to do that for *quite* some time."  
  
Sarah furrowed her brow and closed her eye again. "It's impossible," she said after a long while, not really expecting Jareth to still be there. "it really is impossible, Jareth. Toby and I are going to be bound here."  
  
"you might not."  
  
"... what happened the other night? Why am I here?"  
  
"you almost killed yourself with a large dose of a special type of fey drink," Jareth explained. Again.  
  
"I got drunk?"  
  
"in a basic sense, yes."  
  
Sarah was fighting against hyperventilation. "w... what did I do?"  
  
"shredded your hand and attempted to seduce a couple of fey, nothing more."  
  
"seduce a couple of fey?" Sarah squeaked, her voice rising in pitch. Her head really, really hurt.  
  
"who?"  
  
"well, actually I'm fairly certain you, erm, *begged* one, otherwise everything should be fine. Want me to tend to your headache?" not waiting for a 'yes' or 'no', Jareth sat next to her and took off a glove, putting his hand between her head and pillow so that he could press his fingers to her brow.  
  
"did anything happen? Who was it?"  
  
"don't you remember?"  
  
"I remember a metal-enduced-fruity-drink."  
  
"Ai, Sarah," Jareth sighed and took his hand back, replacing his glove. "nothing serious happened. And as for as I know, Squiglette and Asqueek have been taken out of their punishments, though they aren't allowed to leave the castle. I haven't seen nor spoken with Navaro or his parents, and Nanamek still wishes to be left alone."  
  
"who?" Sarah repeated.  
  
"if you don't remember, I'm certain it's for the best," Jareth replied smartly, standing up. "and I suggest you take a bath. You've got half a keg of Nifo in your hair."  
  
Sarah gave a muffled grunt in reply, not really listening.  
  
Jareth shrugged, sighed, and pisked her up. "hey!" She complained. "where are you taking me?"  
  
"to the bathing room," came the reply.  
  
Sarah slumped in Jareth's arms and sighed. "whatever," she muttered. "Asqueek and Squiglette are there," Jareth offered. Sarah perked a little bit. "they are?"  
  
"yes, they managed to cover themselves and half the kitchens in butter and flour today after lunch."  
  
"AFTER lunch??? Just what time is it??" a pause. "I mean, in Aboveground terms?"  
  
Jareth shrugged as best he could with his arms full. "two-thirty?" he guessed. Sarah groaned and slumped again. Seeing as she obviously wasn't going to get Aboveground on her own, she might as well devise a plan to get back with Toby.  
  
Once at the door the bathing room, Jareth set Sarah on her feet just as the door opened and an elf came out with a towel wrapped around his waist. Water flooded out at his feet and he looked annoyed. "it's an all childrens' bath, m'lord," he said, bowing slightly to Jareth. "every child in the kingdom is in there."  
  
Jareth smiled. "then I'll have to stay out - Sarah, get."  
  
Sarah walked carefully into the room, pausing slightly as the door closed behind her and steam made her feel slightly light-headed. Indeed, it did seem as though an entire pre-school was in there. Little goblin children, some fairies (though they were little) a few elves, a lot of hybrids, and of course, Squiglette and Asqueek were there. They both called to Sarah as she sat down on the other end of the room.  
  
"Hi Sarah!" Asqueek said, clambering out of the water and running/slipping towards her. "all the grown-ups says that you would be here, and they was right!"  
  
"aye!" called a suspiciously familiar elfling. "Navaro! I thought you were still grounded," Sarah said as he and Squiglette came towards her as well. All of the others ignored them to death. Almost unnervingly.  
  
"My dad brought me here after I begged him to. He just left, though."  
  
"oh." Sarah said dumbly. "is Nanamek coming? Where is she?"  
  
"she's in her room," Sarah replied softly.  
  
"not anymore!" Asqueek complained. "she has to come out!" and before anybody/thing could stop her, she turned and bolted out of the room, towel- less and everything. Sarah groaned and anybody else that saw burst into laughter.  
  
"c'mon Sarah! You need a bath," Navaro said. Sarah carefully inspected the ceiling. "not with so many kids around, Navaro," she said softly. "I don't want to ruin your guys' fun!"  
  
Navaro shrugged. "you won't ruin our fun, Sarah." Then he saw the look on Sarah's face, how she carefully found the ceiling interesting, and something his parents had told him about Humans.  
  
"you're embarrassed!" he burst out gleefully. "my mom always said that humans were modest beyond all belief, but this isn't really what I expected!"  
  
suddenly the door burst open, and Jareth accompanied by two goblins marched in. again, they were ignored the heck out of. The rest of the children just screamed and played or whatever.  
  
"looks like we're on baby-sitting duty," one of the goblins at Jareth's side said, sitting a little ways from Sarah and watching the children closely. The other agreed and sat next to the first. Jareth had his arms full - of Asqueek, and - amazingly enough - Nanamek!  
  
"I got her!" Asqueek giggled, touching Nanamek's hand.  
  
Jareth arched an eyebrow at Sarah. "really," he said. "you could have stopped her."  
  
"sor-ry," Sarah replied, reaching out and taking the goblin and silent half Fairy-Pixy from him. Nanamek see,ed very silent, and it was still obvious that she cried at every chance she got. She snuggled into Sarah's arms - Asqueek had literally dragged her out there, and they had been in a crowded room outside the dining hall when Jareth had spotted them.  
  
"I think that *you* need a bath too, King Jareth!" Squiglette said, grinning.  
  
"no thanks, I'm busy at the moment," he said, and there were a few groans of disappointment. "maybe I'll join you later." Knowing these kids, they'd stay there all day without a care in the world. Besides, Jareth rather liked the many different colors Sarah's face was going as she burned a number of holes through the ceiling.  
  
"okay! Don't forget!"  
  
"I won't. and Nanamek?"  
  
Nanamek turned her face slightly away from Sarah and looked at Jareth softly.  
  
"if you get too tired, or hungry, or if you need anything I'll be in the castle," he murmured.  
  
"kay," she whispered hoarsely. Jareth gave Sarah a pointed look before leaving.  
  
"what happened, Nanamek?" Navaro asked, attempting to get a good look at her face, which was once again buried in Sarah's chest.  
  
"leave her alone," Sarah said gently. "though I do believe that some bath and fun would do her some good."  
  
"but what happened?" Squiglette persisted.  
  
"later," Sarah hissed. They all glanced at each other.  
  
"Hey! Awanna play CTMC?" called a boy from the middle of the bath-turned- pool that looked suspiciously like a cross between a goblin and a fairy.  
  
"Ya!" the rest of the kids shouted, and those that were out jumped back in. Roman Baths, Sarah thought, and giggled a little.  
  
"come on!" Asqueek said, tuggeding on Sarah's arm. "Nanamek, it's your favorite game! You gotta play too, Sarah!"  
  
"How do you play?" Sarah asked, having no intentions whatsoever to jump into the steaming water naked with a bunch of goblin, fairies, elves and whatnot children - especially of both gender. Sure, it wasn't anything she hadn't seen, but they were a) no people, things, and b) she didn't know the lot of them, except The Four.  
  
"CTMC stands for 'Catch The Magic Creature', and that's what it basically is. Three of us have something - anything, so long as it's small and physical, and we have to stay in the water and try to find one another - with the thing, whatever it is - without anybody else seeing that we have a thing. The rules are we have to say in the water, and if we're caught - by anybody - we have to give them the thing and come outta the water." Her eyes sparkled. "and with just *five* of us the game can last forever. Really! C'mon, both of you have to play!"  
  
Sarah smiled, and sat Nanamek on her lap carefully. "Hey Nanamek," she said. "you really should go play. You haven't seen anything outside of your room for a long time, if what Jareth says is true."  
  
"He *told* you??" Nanamek stared up at Sarah.  
  
"it wasn't easy," Sarah said. "I had to blackmail him and everything."  
  
"oh." Nanamek's lips twitched a little bit. "I really like that game, I guess," she whispered.  
  
"YAY!" Asqueek bounced around. "come *on* Nanamek! Let's go! Hurry up!"  
  
Sarah helped Nanamek out of her clothes, and watched her and Asqueek jump in. it really was an interesting game to watch. Sometimes it'd get really quiet, with all of the kids just lurking eye-level in the water, swimming slowly around like crocodiles, and other times it would be so loud and energetic that Sarah herself got soaked to the bone.  
  
Every once in a while, a goblin or elf or fairy or mix would come and gather one or two little ones up and leave. Within an hour, there was only The Four, one other goblin boy, another elfling - a girl, and an elf-fairy, which was a boy. The game was, amazingly enough, still in progress - though the elf girl and Squiglette were sitting out next to Sarah - the others were currently lurking around, trying to find the culprit with the last by- now-ruined-shoe. The goblin baby-sitters had left quite a while ago, and though Sarah knew she should be worrying about Toby and herself, she still found it very amusing to watch them.  
  
"YOU!!" Asqueek squealed and splashed around in circles, the others chasing her madly until the she-elfling tackled her into the water and pulled the shoe out triumphantly. "I win!" she cried.  
  
"lett's play again, let's play again!" Squiglette cried, jumping into the water with the others. Sarah laughed as they all started to swim to each other, but an elf and a goblin came, and now only The Four was left. The sighed disappointedly.  
  
"okay Sarah! Now you hafta come in! you don't have to be so modest around us - we're your friends!" Nanamek insisted. It made Sarah happy enough to see Nanamek so active - especially after what the trauma she had gone through - so the laughed and obediently finished her drink (the first goblin baby-sitter had given her a large water bottle of ice cool water, having heard about Sarah's little "incident") and undressed quickly, joining them.  
  
Automatically they leapt on her and she found all four trying to wash her hair with every different kind of shampoo there was.  
  
"Lilac!" Squiglette shouted. "Sarah smells better with Lilac!" he waved a purple bottle around madly, floundering.  
  
"No, she's a human, and humans like Roses!" Asqueek challenged, waving a red bottle right back at him, also treading water.  
  
"You're both wrong!" Navaro argues, waving a blue bottle around himself. "I think she should use whatever it is that King Jareth uses!"  
  
Nanamek was calmly and quietly washing Sarah's hair with vanilla, and the two would giggle every now and then.  
  
"I like vanilla," she said. "so vanilla it is!"  
  
"nuh-uh!" Asqueek cried, then saw Sarah duck and rinse her hair off. There was momentary silence, then...  
  
"Lilac conditioner is better than all other conditioners out there!!!"  
  
Sarah roared with laughter. "I'm clean, you guys!" she said. "don't worry!"  
  
"oh." They sounded so disappointed that Sarah laughed again. "oh, how did I become so lucky as to have you four as my friends?"  
  
"that's easy!" Navaro laughed. "it was all Squiglette's idea!"  
  
"that's right, I almost forgetted how we met," Nanamek murmured. "we originally wanted to teach you-know-who a lesson, then figured that..." The Four all laughed.  
  
"yea, and what a great job we did, too! Getting Sarah a terrible cold, and a shot, and hurt by a werewolf, and thrown off a cliff, and hurt with Nifo..." Squiglette trailed off. "hey, come to think of it, you guys, we've been basically killing Sarah!"  
  
now that was unexpected. "no youy haven't," Sarah cried. "I'm just not exactly the luckiest person in the world, that's all."  
  
Nanamek snorted/scoffed. "I still think she and K-" she was cut off as the door opened.  
  
"King Jareth!" she cried, splashing and waving. "did you come to join us?"  
  
"of course he did!" Squiglette put in, scrambling out of the water once more to hang on Jareth's leg and attempt to drag him in. "come on, King Jareth!" he said.  
  
The other three joined Squiglette in attempting to drag Jareth into the water - and Sarah was wondering if she could drown herself in record time.  
  
Jareth laughed and allowed himself to be dragged to the side of the baths- turned-pool, and he mentally smacked himself when he caught sight of Sarah - on the other end, face red hot, eyes barely above water. A few ::ahem:: disturbing mental images clouded his mind for a moment, and he shook his head a bit. "Whoa, kids. I'm not sure if I'll be able to join you - I just came to tell you that it is almost sinner time - Navaro, Asqueek, your parents will be by here soon. Of course, you'll be joining us."  
  
"oh." There was a disappointed silence, then. "we've still got time, then!" and because the sudden outburst was so unexpected, Jareth was momentarily put off balance and all of The Four pushed him in - clothes and all - the water. He sputtered. "that wasn't nice," he pointed out. The Four jumped in after him. "only because you've got your clothes on!" Nanamek replied, leaping in next him. "come on Sarah! Sarah?"  
  
they looked around for a moment, then saw a small mound of wet, dark brown almost black hair, green eyes, and bubbles at the other end of the pool. "Sarah! What are you doing over there? Come on!" Squiglette and Nanamek splashed over to Sarah while Navaro and Asqueek tugged on Jareth's medallions and more. "come on! Don't you want to play?"  
  
Sarah went an even brighter shade of red and sunk even lower, blowing more bubbles through her nose.  
  
"she's shy!" Navaro called from the other end. "that's why she didn't come in with the others around! Humans are *very* modest!"  
  
"Oh." Asqueek furrowed her brow. "well you don't *have* to be, Sarah."  
  
"well, she is!" Navaro splashed over and Nanamek and Asqueek went back to Jareth, who was watching with a rather amused expression. Sarah saw this and decided that dying right now wouldn't be such a bad thing.  
  
"Come on, Sarah? What's to be shy about?"  
  
Sarah blew more bubbles until she ran out of air, and resurfaced just a little bit. "because Jareth is a *boy*" she hissed, took a deep breath, and went back to eye-level.  
  
"so? I bet it's nothing he hasn't seen before. King Jareth has changed dipers you know."  
  
Sarah resurfaced once more. "I have a few more things and certain assets that babies don't have!" underwater again.  
  
"what? You mean those?" Navaro waved vagualy at her chest, which had Sarah's hands clasped over it. "I'm pretty sure that he's seen things like that before too."  
  
The elfling and Sarah were both unaware of Asqueek, Squiglette, Nanamek, and Jareth watching them from across the bath-turned-pool with grins.  
  
"Not mine! And I'd rather he didn't!" she then remembered her "cold" and the shot with "The Device" day. Sarah was yet and even BRIGHTER shade of red. "not mine," she repeated in a hiss through her teeth.  
  
"and, as I said before, I have other... things added. Nobody but I have seen them, and I certainly don't want Jareth to!"  
  
"we have." He said blandly.  
  
"yes, and you are children. Children are not only painfully truthful, but don't care about things such as "modesty" because "modesty" isn't in your vocabulary until you turn eleven!" Sarah hadn't realized that her voice had been rising steadily until the other three and Jareth all roared with laughter.  
  
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!"  
  
They all shut up. "close your eyes!" she told them. "close, close, close!"  
  
Sarah heaved herself partway out of the water and scampered around the edge of it, forgetting the age-old-rule Never Run Around A Pool. So, of course, she slipped and landed back in it with a splash. They all opened their eyes and snickered once more.  
  
"Not funny!" Sarah repeated. Then suddenly all of the color drained from her face and came back in a rush along with quite a few blood cells. Jareth and The Four (minus Navaro) were a maximum of two feet away - she noticed Jareth in particular.  
  
He watched her, reclining easily against the edge, a tell-tale smirk playing with his eyes. Sarah originally would have ducked under water and gone about that way, but that would be a bit impossible unless she wanted to scar her virgin eyes forever.  
  
She just floundered there, and there was momentary silence until Nanamek spoke up. "you're right Navaro, humans really *are* more modest then they should be! My mother wasn't like that." She lapsed into silnce and Sarah felt a wave of guilt wash over her.  
  
Leave it to me to remind her, she though sullenly, watching Nanamek duck her head.  
  
"Naamé," Nanamek said suddenly. She looked up at Jareth. "I like 'Naamé' as a really cool name."  
  
He smiled gently in return, acknowledgment in his eyes.  
  
"If *I* were to be renamed, I think I would like to be called Mîken," Navaro said.  
  
"I would wanna be called Eybgo," Asqueek added.  
  
"Squiggle!" Squiglette put in. "What about you, Sarah?"  
  
Sarah thought a second. "if I were to be renamed, I'd like to be called Naomi or Zoë."  
  
"King Jareth?"  
  
"'Jareth' is enough for me," he answered, smirking fully now. An elf knocked then entered. "Navaro," she called. "let's go."  
  
"Oh. Bye Asqueek, Squiglette, Nanamek, King Jareth, Sarah," he said, climbing out and snatching his clothes.  
  
"bye!" Sarah called.  
  
"will you be attending dinner?" Jareth asked. Navaro's mother gave a small bow. "Yes m'lord," she said, and they left.  
  
Next was Asqueek.  
  
Nanamek pleaded she wanted a small nap before dinner, and left with Squiglette.  
  
This left Sarah and Jareth. Neither of them moved.  
  
"Will we go to the Aboveground after eating?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Yes,"  
  
Silence. Sarah finally let out a small sigh and scouted around for a moment. "Turn around, or close your eyes, or something!" she commanded, leaning a little ways out of the water and onto the floor to grab a towel laying nearby. She then scampered out of the water, huddled tightly in the towel, grabbed her clothes, and paused at the door, looking over her shoulder.  
  
Jareth was no where to be seen.  
  
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A/N: I'm really really REALLY sorry it took so long to get this (extra long for your benefit) chapter out! I really am! See, I just have this project I'm doing at school (I'm doing it on Labyrinth - go figure) and I haven't even STARTED my visual yet, even with all the work I've been doing! So I really am sorry! I'll try to have another chapter out by Saturday or Sunday. KK? Once more, I'm sorry! I'm so happy you guys are still loyal - and I'm on the Favorites list of FIVE different people! Wowie! That is such an honor - I mean, not like I'm flattered beyond all belief and and jumping around like an idiot or anything, but, wowie! Did I mention wowie? Heh! *passes out truck loads of chocolate-covered Goblin Kings, Jareth clones, and invitations to an all-Labyrinth party in 2005* THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! *throws confetti* okay, I'll stop gushing now. *hugs all reviews one more time before scampering off to update other neglected fics* 


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